Troublesome
by Zagger the Bloody Angel
Summary: The extraction of Nibi succeeds, but in only killing Yugito. Nibi breaks free as the extraction nearly finished while Konoha shinobi closed in on the area, tracking Kakuzu. Akatsuki nearly subdue the nekomata when the Konoha shinobi arrive and all hell br
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well... Sorry guys. I had to start this fic. It's been bugging me ever since I have thought of it. Though on the bright side after I get this chapter out I can focus on Blood Naruto and Naruto of Spira and finally finish them, baring anything else happening. I put a little comedy into this chapter to lift the mood before having the real fun begin. This fic, for the most part, will be serious but don't be surprised to see a few comedic scenes like that every now and then. I'm not entirely sure who is in the Niju Shotai, so if I make any mistakes, deal with them. I'm unfamiliar with this part of the manga as I haven't read it yet, but I'm not really following cannon anyways so it doesn't matter, though I am at the same time. Be warned, this chapter is very, very long and the other chapters will be just as long if not longer.

I will say this once; there will be Character Deaths in this fic, and in **THIS** chapter. And this is M rated for a reason; some of this stuff is actually pretty gruesome. Hell I had to edit one scene as I couldn't show that on here. Hope you enjoy it.

If anyone wants to be a Beta for this fic, please let me know. I know there are mistakes, it is just too long for me to comb through and find them.

_**Warning!**_ Spoilers for Recent Naruto chapters ahead, so if you don't want to know what happens till you read it in Shonen Jump or whatever, don't read.

I Do Not Own Naruto.

* * *

In a hidden village on top of a mountain, a blonde haired girl wearing a black and white outfit panted lightly as she looked at the two men wearing black cloaks in front of her and gritted her teeth. She couldn't understand how they were matching her move for move and easily countering her. She was the second strongest in Kumogakure even without the use of her tenant. And if she did use it, she was stronger than even the Raikage himself. Yet these two men seemed to be beyond even his level as everything she did left them unfazed.

Growling lightly to herself, she glared at the two in front of her. Seeing she had no choice, she backed up a bit and was ready to call on her tenant. "You guys just made a big mistake. I'm not going to hold back on you any longer."

The two men just smirked at her as if daring her to go all out making the blonde haired jinchuuriki grit her teeth even more. _'Nibi! I need your help with these guys!_

From deep within her mind, two goldish yellow eyes opened up before a hiss that sounded somewhat like a groan was heard followed by a somewhat feminine, yet powerful voice. **"What now kitten? I was having the most wonderful dream. I was getting ready to get laid by this..."**

_'NIBI! I SAID I NEED HELP HERE! NOT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR DREAMS OF GETTING LAID!'_

Another groan was heard from the being with the two large yellow eyes before she sighed and closed her eyes. **"I heard you the first time kitten, but what's in it for me? I'm tired of helping you every time you need help. I hear you talking about wanting to be normal and wish that you didn't have me sealed within you. So here is your chance. Do this on your own."**

Growling was heard from its vessel, most likely angered from the fact that it denied her of the help she needed. _'NIBI! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT IF I DIE YOU DIE?!'_

**"Kitten, when you die, I will be resurrected. I cannot die as the God of Death is my boss and he doesn't allow me die. I was nearly killed by Kyuubi over half a millennium ago and was about to die when he stepped and saved my life and sealed Kyuubi away. So do not think of yourself as special as if you have the power to wield death over me Yugito, as not even the great kitsune could. I am immortal, unlike that man in front of you."**

Yugito's eyes widen as she heard Nibi's response and couldn't help back up even more. _'But that shouldn't be possible! The seal was designed so that when I died I would take you with me!'_

Nibi sighed in annoyance as she shook a bit, revealing her to be a giant pitch black cat with two body length tails chained down as with the rest of her body. **"Kitten, I already have explained it to you, but to clarify it for you, I will do it again. I cannot die because the God of Death will not allow me to die. So I am immortal to every extent of the word."**

_'But why?! Why did you help me for all these years if you could be freed if I died?!'_ Yugito screamed at her tenant as she backed away even further from the two slightly confused men, waiting for her to release the power of her tenant.

A sigh was heard from the nekomata as it pawed the ground lightly. **"Because I believed I could change you. I have never seen a jinchuuriki act like you before. Every single person that has been or is a jinchuuriki has lived through things that they should not have to endure, yet the almost always persevere. They don't take for granted everything they earn and cherish the small things in life."**

**"You on the other hand are a spoiled brat that has been given everything you wanted and thrown it away once you are finished with it. You are arrogant to those who you believe are inferior to you, explaining why you are in this situation, fighting two beyond your precious father's level. So since you got yourself into this, get yourself out of it and stop bothering me!"** Nibi cut the connection between her vessel before curling into herself and closing her eyes.

Yugito's eyes widen once more as the connection between them was cut off. She looked up to see the two men advance on her making her back up even further, not sure what to do. She looked around, trying to find someone to help her and/or a way to escape, but she found none as she backed herself into the alley wall. Her eyes widen in fear and realization as she looked back at the two in front of her. She wasn't getting out of this.

The man with silver noticed her eyes before shaking his head. "It seems she finally understands that she cannot get out of this. And here I was going to show her how terrifying we really can be. Damn, let's just get her back to the base so we can extract Nibi and seal her with the others."

In an instant, two yellow eyes snapped open from within Yugito before a pulse of purple chakra surrounded her and began to take the form of a cat. It continued to expand as it pushed back the two men from the sheer force of it as a large purple chakra cat, the size of a building, with two tails swaying beyond it formed. Yugito's eyes widen as her tenant chakra flowed through her and didn't understand what was happening. _'Nibi. I thought you weren't going to help me.'_

**"Do not think I'm helping you for the sake of being kind. I am helping you because I will NOT be sealed with the other bijuu! I hate ever last one of them and will do everything in my power to keep from ever having to see them again! Even if it means helping a pathetic excuse of a jinchuuriki like you."** Nibi growled out in response as her focus was completely on the two men in front of her vessel.

Yugito mentally nodded at her tenant before turning towards the two men looking at her through the haze of chakra. Neither seemed to be worried as the both looked at her with an indifferent look on their faces. Both Nibi and Yugito snarled at them seeing this as the chakra cat lowered itself into a pouncing position. After a few minutes, both noticed they weren't going to move so Yugito made the first move and lunged at them.

In response, Hidan quickly threw his scythe towards the middle of the chakra cat as one of Kakuzu's bird mask detached itself from him before floating into the air before it shot out what seemed to be a ball of pressurized air. The giant cat easily dodged the scythe in mid air and landed on the ground before it was forced to jump into the air to avoid the ball of air, which slammed into the building behind and leveled it with the utmost ease.

Yugito narrowed her eyes as she landed on the building at the side of the alley and noticed the damage. _'Dammit! They were toying with me earlier!'_

Nibi did not answer her vessel as she already knew this but her sole focus was on the two as Hidan caught his scythe as two more mask detached from Kakuzu.

Jumping back down, Yugito narrowly avoided the two lighting bolts that shot from the Ox mask as she charged them once more before sending a chakra claw towards them. To her surprise, neither jumped to avoid it as it hit Kakuzu, barely pushing him back and not even leaving a scratch. Yugito's eyes widen seeing this before she was forced to dodge a stream of fire from the lion's mask. She noticed Hidan rushing her once more and slashed a claw towards him.

To her surprise, he didn't even dodge as the claw tore through his abdomen and didn't even look like it fazed his as he threw his scythe towards the center of the chakra cat. Ducking below the scythe, she quickly ran towards him in hope to catch him off guard, only to jump back as a stream of fire enveloped him in an attempt to hit her. Yugito's eyes widen at the fact that his partner didn't even try to avoid hitting him in battle. As she watched the fire die down, her eyes widen even further as the man stood there looking unaffected by the flames, though he seemed to be a little irritated.

"KAKUZU YOU ASSHOLE! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING THAT THING! IT HURT LIKE HELL!"

"Don't get in my way then." Kakuzu responded not caring at all for his partner's safety.

If they weren't in the middle of battle, both Nibi and Yugito would have laughed from the exchange between the two. Shaking that off, Yugito quickly charged Hidan to put him away. Hidan quickly turned to her before pulling his arm back. Both looked confused as to why he did that before they heard something flying in the air. Yugito turned her head around only to see the scythe right in front of her and slashing into her rib cage.

She hissed in pain as she jumped out of the way to keep it from doing more damage as Hidan walked up to it and picked it up with a smile on his face. "Well, this fight is over. Kakuzu, hold her off a bit as I begin the ritual."

Kakuzu nodded as Hidan walked besides him and order his mask to attack the chakra cat. Yugito gritted her teeth as she dodged two bolts of lighting only to see the ball of wind catch the fire and created a fire wave heading towards her. Both of their eyes widen as the chakra cat tried to jump out of the way, only to be slammed into the wall by the exploding flames. Nibi's chakra keep the fire from doing too much damage to Yugito, but it still was enough to leave some first degree burns on her.

Once the flames died down, Yugito took a moment to recover before she was forced to dodge another fire wave, this time succeeding. Once she landed she rushed towards the two, avoiding the bolts of lighting, balls of wind and flames coming from the mask. As she neared them, Kakuzu jumped into her path as she slashed at Hidan and pulled in all his masks to protect them. Once again, he was only knocked back as her claw left no signs of damage on him. Yugito hissed at this and slashed at him again as Nibi analyzed what was happening.

_**'How is my chakra claw not harming him? It is hitting him dead center every time, but it hasn't even left a mark on him. It's as if it's hitting metal... That's it!'**_ Nibi proclaimed to herself before speaking to her vessel. **"Yugito! The chakra claw isn't going to work against him. He's using an earth jutsu to harden his skin to keep us from damaging him! The only way to damage him is to over power it or attack it with a lighting jutsu!"**

Yugito nodded her head lightly hearing this, but due to her inability to use jutsu while using Nibi's chakra, she had to go with over powering him. Combining her chakra with Nibi's, she slashed Kakuzu furiously, but to no avail as he just continued to be knocked back and had no damage done to him. Yugito continued slashing at him as Nibi realized she wasn't going to be able to.

**"Yugito no! Go after the other one! You can't do any damage to this one like this!"**

Nibi's cry went ignored as Yugito continued to slash at the seemingly indestructible Kakuzu as her claws were doing absolutely nothing to him. Even slamming him into the wall was doing absolutely nothing as he walked out and wiped the dust off his cloak. Yugito roared in fury as she saw this and rushed towards Kakuzu and was about to slash him she stopped and screamed in pain before coughing up some blood. She looked down and noticed a hole in the left side of her stomach. Her eyes widen seeing this as she saw nothing do it before turning to Hidan and noticed he had a pike in the same spot where the hole in her stomach was.

Kakuzu walked towards him, seeing that he was no longer need to distract the girl from attacking Hidan. Hidan smirked viciously at the stunned girl seeing the confused look on her face before he ripped the pike out of him making Yugito scream as the same happened to her as her blood splattered onto the ground She looked up at them in confusion, not understanding what was going on as Nibi gritted her teeth, realizing that he forged some kind of connection to her vessel.

Hidan smirked as he rammed his pike into his right shoulder, almost ripping it off and doing the same to Yugito's and heard her scream in pain as she fell to her knees. He smirked even more as he brought the pike over to his right chest before driving it in. Yugito's eyes widen as she bit her lip to keep from screaming, but couldn't as the pain was too much and screamed as he pulled it back and pulled part of her lung out with it.

Nibi's chakra began to leave her as Yugito fell to the ground. She tried to force more into her, but her body would accept it. She gritted her teeth as she used her chakra to scan around the area, hoping someone was coming to help, but didn't sense anything other than what seemed to be a plant like creature. At first she had no clue what it was, but she quickly realized it was human and was heading towards them. Even though she disliked her vessel, she hoped that whoever this was going to help her vessel as she did not want to become sealed with the other bijuu.

But it was for naught as the said man rose from the ground wearing the same cloak as the other two. He looked around before noticing Yugito lying on the ground, bleeding heavily and almost lifeless before he looked over to Hidan as he was about to cause more damage. "Hidan stop. She cannot do anything else. I will take her to the base and prepare for the extraction. You two head over there as well and make sure no one follows you."

Kakuzu nodded as Hidan flipped Zetsu off. Zetsu rolled his eyes before picking up Yugito and melted into the ground with Yugito and left the scene. Hidan rolled his eyes as he transformed back to his regular form and put up his pike as Kakuzu checked to make sure his masks were okay before they both quickly left the scene.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked along with Sakura and Kiba as they followed Ibiki to find out a clue to find the confirmed Akatsuki member they were chasing as he was reported to be in the Land of Fire not to long ago. He wasn't against finding information on where he went, he just wanted some action. He was getting bored as it had been a while since he had done anything and this entire information gathering was as tiring as it was boring.

Sakura of course noticed her teammate's restlessness and shock her head. She could understand his reasoning as she to was bored, but knew this was very important. Though she was slightly confused as to way they were with Ibiki. They could have assigned practically anyone from the Niju Shotai, but why them? She understood why she was there as she was a medic Nin and a decent fighter as well. And Kiba could track anyone with his nose, but wouldn't they need the rest to help them take down the Akatsuki member? And why Naruto? It was him that Akatsuki was after. She couldn't understand why they would put him in such an unprotected group.

Shaking that thought off, she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm down his restlessness. "Calm down Naruto. I know you dislike waiting, but we're not sure where to go next. And without knowing where to go, we can't catch Itachi."

Naruto nodded lightly before sighing as I he looked up at the sky. "I know that Sakura-chan. It's just that we're sitting here waiting, they could have caught another one of us..."

"Another one of us? Naruto, you feeling okay man? I didn't think they had caught one of us yet and I thought they were going after demon vessels like Gaara." Kiba interrupted, looking slightly confused at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widen as he realized what he said and tried to figure something out so he could cover up his tracks. He knew Sakura and Ibiki knew of his condition, but a good portion of Konoha's younger generation didn't and he wasn't too thrilled about them finding out his dirty little nine tail secret. Luckily for him, Ibiki was paying attention to their conversation and quickly bailed him out. "We're here. Let me do the talking and we'll get out of here faster."

All three of them nodded, Naruto a little more as he was trying to thank Ibiki for bailing him out of saying anything to Kiba about him being a jinchuuriki himself. Ibiki nodded and headed into the building and they quickly followed him in. Once inside, Ibiki quickly navigated his way around it and stood in front of a large, bald guy sitting at a desk. The man looked up and noticed the Konoha hitai-ate on his head before looking down as he didn't care.

Ibiki narrowed his eyes such blatant disrespect, but that did not matter to him at the moment. "Excuse me; I have a few questions to ask you." The man grumbled as he nodded and looked at the paperwork in front of him with unaltered hate. Ibiki shook his head, understanding the reason he was glaring at his paperwork decided to get straight to it. "I've came here in pursuit of a nukenin that was suppose to be seen at this bank and that you were the agent that worked with him on some sort of deal. So am I going to ask once, have you seen this man or are they mistaken."

He held out a picture of the same man that had just helped in Yugito's capture. The man shrugged as he was paid to keep silent if anyone to where to ask about his customer. "Nope, now if you would please leave. I have work to do."

Ibiki narrowed his eyes as he turned back to Kiba who turned to Akamaru, who in turned barked. Kiba nodded at Ibiki who turned back to the bald man. "I'm afraid your lie was sniffed out. Now I'm going to ask you, where did he go?"

The bald man shrugged his shoulder as started to sweat a bit, not liking where this was going. "I have no clue. He didn't tell me."

Another bark from Akamaru and nod from Kiba, Ibiki narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him before growling at him. "Listen to me punk, either tell me, or I'll _make_ you tell me." He laced his voice with enough killer intent that it made all three of his subordinates back up in fear as they all remembered him from the chunin exams and really didn't want to be present to witnesses him _make_ the bald man tell him.

The man shrank in his chair as he looked up at Ibiki while trembling madly before nodding his head and speaking faster than most normal people could hear. "Yeah sure! He said he was going to Kumogakure and would be back within a week! He also said something about stopping at the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lighting! Please don't kill me!"

Ibiki nodded at him before putting his fist down onto the desk and snapping it in two. "Thank you for the information, but I will warn you. If you deal with that man or any other nukenin and I find out about it, consider your career over."

The bald man nodded quickly in fear as Ibiki quickly left the building. Kiba, Naruto and Sakura looked at each other for a split second before running after him, not wanting to piss him off. The quickly caught up to him and made their way back to camp with absolutely no talking, mainly because they were still frightened of Ibiki.

Once they got back to camp, Ibiki quickly railed up the rest of the Niju Shotai. Once they were there, he started pacing in front of them before speaking out. "From the intelligence I gathered, it seems that our target has left for Kumogakure a few days ago. Most likely to capture another jinchuuriki. From what I learned, he will come back within a week. But he is going to stop at the Land of Fire and Lightings border, making believe there is something important there."

At this everyone there, besides the ones that were there when Ibiki was told, looked up at this while Ibiki continued on. "I know it might be risky, but I believe it might very possibly be one of the Akatsuki bases. And if that is true, we can eliminate and capture a few of the Akatsuki members for interrogation or at the very least destroy one of their bases. That's why I say we should at least check it out, that way we can confirm it. But we'd have to be careful and not give Kumogakure any reason to believe that we are invading them because I don't want to get involved in another war any time soon."

Everyone there nodded in agreement as they didn't wish for that either before looking back at Ibiki, who seemed to be taking on the position of leader for the moment. Kakashi was the first to speak out of the group. "That's not good. From what I heard from Jiraiya-sama there is a jinchuuriki in Kumo. If he is heading there it most likely means he and his partner are aiming to capture him. And if that's the case, the stop between the borders is most likely a base like the one they had in Suna. I believe it's best to head towards the border now so we can catch them when they arrive."

Ibiki nodded at Kakashi statement, agreeing with it as well as the others nodded, not wanting to allow Akatsuki to gain more power. "Good, now if now one objects, we head for Kumogakure in our specialized eight man cells."

The group nodded and Naruto, Kiba and Sakura quickly joined up with Shino, Hinata, Sai, Kakashi and Yamato. Kakashi and Yamato looked over all of them before going through the basic preparing stages of checking their equipment to make sure they had everything before heading off towards Kumogakure.

* * *

From within her vessel, Nibi was hissing and growling up a storm. She continued to try and follow her chakra into Yugito, but it was to no avail. It just wouldn't flow into her coils. She gritted her teeth and wished she could get up and pace, but she couldn't so she would have to think of a way out of this without being able to pace. She could and would not be sealed with the others, even if she had to destroy her body and become part of the God of Death, she would not join them.

She sighed a bit as the air around your grew darker indicating that her vessel had officially passed out and wasn't just in a daze. Being shut completely out from the outside world, she couldn't do any but wait for now. She knew that there had to be an extraction to bring her out to seal her into something else. So she contemplated on what to do at that precise moment. She could just flare her chakra and try to break it, but her chakra wasn't much compared to the other bijuu. But in pure strength she could defeat all but Gobi, Hachimata and Kyuubi. So the right mixture of strength and chakra should be able to allow her to break free and walk amongst the living once more.

Sighing and shaking her head, she would have to wait for now and being unable to move, she closed her and let the darkness around her consume her.

* * *

In a dark cave around a platform, Zetsu emerged from the ground and laid the unconscious Yugito onto the said platform. In an instant, six other figures appeared in the room and noticed the girl. The first to speak was the one on the far left with spiked hair and grey, spiraled eyes. "Hm. Seems like Kakuzu and Hidan succeed in their capture. Konan, please check the seal for me."

The woman besides him nodded as she walked up to Yugito, revealing that she had blue hair, cold blue eyes and a white paper flower in her hair. Lifting up Yugito's shirt and hearing some mumbling and commotion from the other guys as they tried to get a peep, she looked at the seal, only after blasting them with enough killing intent to make them feel like Jiraiya when he peeped on Tsunade and got caught. She was slightly glad that the only ones not interested where the leader and Kisame, but she had thought Itachi to be above that, though she blamed the others for corrupting his once pure and unperverted mind.

Shaking her head from that thought, she took a good look at the seal and instantly recognized the seals. "It's a Three Star Double Helix seal, covered by a Five Elemental seal along with some suppression seals to keep the Nekomata's chakra from overwhelming her."

The spiky haired one that was shrouded in darkness nodded before walking out to reveal that he had auburn colored hair, a slightly pale skin and way too many piercings on his face. "I see. Thank you Konan. Itachi, I want you to assist Konan in preparing for the extraction. She will walk you through it as Sasori was the one that did it before."

"Zetsu, keep a look out for intruders that might be following Hidan and Kakuzu when they arrive. Kisame, Deidara and Tobi, if there is anyone following them, I want you three to eliminate the pursuers before they get here. I know they can take care of themselves, but there is always a possibility that it could be Jiraiya or the Niju Shotai that Konoha created for capturing and eliminating us. Do not take them lightly if it happens to be them, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is among them. If he is in the group, call for me as I will be the one to capture him seeing as you have failed on multiple occasions Itachi. Once you're back in, set up the barrier to keep any unwanted intruders out."

"Hai Taishou!"

The Akatsuki members quickly took off to do their said duties, though Itachi and Konan stayed as they had to prepare for the extraction. Itachi glared at the leader for a moment, not liking that the leader had basically called him incompetent in front of the others, but could not do anything at the moment as the leader only an astral projection seeing that he disappeared from sight.

He quickly turned away and followed Konan's lead as she lead him through the preparations. "Itachi, I want you to help me create a twelve trigram seal around the platform. Then once we finished I will need you to assist me on creating the extraction seals."

Itachi nodded as he got to work on the trigram seal with Konan on the opposite side of the platform. His vision became blurry each moment he drew the seals and he shook his head every few minutes to try and get it to go away. He sighed lightly as it briefly did before it came back even stronger than before. Shaking his head, he activated his Sharingan and the blurriness went away and he could see perfectly.

From the other side of the platform, Konan noticed this. "Couldn't see again." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Sighing a bit, Itachi nodded as he continued to mark his side of the platform. "Yes."

Konan nodded slightly as she worked on her side, looking up every now and then to make sure Yugito was going to wake up on them. "I see. I've been wondering; why didn't you just kill your brother when you ran into him three years ago? With him having absorbed Orochimaru he is now a threat to Akatsuki, but it could have been avoided if you had killed him then."

Itachi did not answer as he continued to work on his side of the platform while scanning Konan's side to see if he was doing it correctly as he was by no means an expert on seals. After not getting an answer, Konan had just figured him to have not deemed it important to kill him then and continued working on her side when he suddenly answered.

"Because he was not ready then. His eyes would have been useless to me if I had killed him at that moment. They are the only reason I kept him alive when Madara and I massacred our clan. Because without them, I will never regain my light again. Without them, I cannot access the full power of the Mangekyou as Madara did years ago. And without him, I cannot test my true capacity."

Konan stopped working on her side as she looked over Yugito and at Itachi before shaking her head and getting back to work. "Ah. I get it now. That's also why you told him how to activate the Mangekyou and to read the clan secrets. Makes sense now, seeing that you just wanted to take his eyes for your own. Pretty clever I must say, but I see one problem with that. What if he is more powerful than you when you two meet again?"

Itachi scoffed at the idea as he continued making the seal, nearing it's completion on his side. "Doubtful. Even with him absorbing the snake, the Mangekyou is much more powerful then he wants to believe. Even then, if he is more powerful, I have a few trump cards up my sleeve to insure victory. But if it comes to terms that I lose to him, I will give him my eyes willingly."

At this, Konan stopped working on her side before standing up and looking down at Itachi, who finished his. "You'll do what? You would help out a potential threat to Akatsuki because they bettered you?!"

Standing up, Itachi looked her directly into her eyes without a hint of fear. "Yes, yes I would. Because if he does better me, he deserves to have the true power of the Sharingan. And to that, even if I killed them all... I will not allow our blood to be erased from this world. The only reason I have not gone off to find anyone to procreate my clan with is that I want to test my capacity against the only other worthy of restarting it. Only after then, will I think of it."

Konan's eyes widen at this as she heard this as Itachi finished the rest of her side up before walking back to the other side of Yugito. "Now, if you have no more questions, can you show me these extraction seals so _Taishou_ doesn't blame this on _my_ incompetence?"

She nodded numbly as she quickly showed him an extraction seal and he began to create them along side of Yugito's body. Konan just watched him to make sure he was doing it correctly. After a few moments, he finished up and deactivated his Sharingan before leaning up against the wall as he waited for the others to arrive. Once she was sure it was right, Konan turned around and looked straight at Itachi. "So, explain to me why you would give your brother your eyes, especially since his power is not his own."

Itachi shook his head as he closed his eyes before answering her in a monotone voice. "There is no wrong way of gaining power. You can train for years and develop your strength, speed, chakra, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu and kenjutsu or you can find some artificial source of power that you can draw from. Either way, it is legitimate because on the battle field, no one cares how much you trained, only for how strong you are. Sasuke was smart to accept Orochimaru's offer to grow stronger with both training and artificial powers given to him. Even smarter for absorbing him and adding his strength and jutsu to his own. For that, I commend him, but in the end, it does not matter as I will win and regain my light."

At the end of his little speech, Konan was left shocked at what she heard. Yet she understood it perfectly. It was odd, she had never once faltered in her training to become stronger, to think about getting it from external sources. In the past, had she had been offered the choice to gain strength through means by a seal or something else, she would have laughed saying that they were weak for using external powers. Yet, she never thought about it that way and she had to think of the jinchuuriki they had been catching.

They had no say in the fact that they were given external powers for whatever reasons. Yet, did that mean they were weak because they had them? No, she could honestly say they weren't. Each one they had ran into happened to be unbelievably powerful, especially for their age as most of them where around fifteen to twenty-one years old. And yet each one was almost as strong as the Kages that governed their hidden villages.

Foot steps interrupted her train of thought as Hidan and Kakuzu followed by the rest of the Akatsuki members walked into the room. As soon as they did, Zetsu emerged from the ground as the leader's astral projection appeared besides the platform. "Good, we are all here. Now let us begin the extraction. It should take at least a day to complete. As long as you continue to send a minute amount chakra to the statue I'm about to send over, I do not care what you do, as long as it doesn't disrupt the extraction process or make it longer than it has to be."

All the Akatsuki members nodded expected for Hidan, who flipped the leader off. "Whatever Pein. I'll do whatever the hell I want to."

Pein gritted his astral teeth at him and was considering summoning one of his bodies over there to beat the hell out of him, but decided against it as he had work to do and didn't want to waist his time on beating up the immortal. "Fine, but if you disrupt the process, I will promise you that I will seal you into the statue in the Hachimata eye."

Hidan stopped at this as they all remembered the hell Hachimata caused them when they went after to catch it. They had lost almost their entire mercenary army, two former members of Akatsuki as he had to replace one of them as he was hired for the army and the fact that he was immobile for almost an entire month from the poisons flowing through him. He nodded numbly, not wanting to have to deal with that creature again. Ever. He would sooner dishonor Jashin than deal with it.

Seeing that his job was done, he nodded they all began flowing chakra as the statue appear from seemingly nowhere. They all sent a small portion of their chakra into it and the mouth of the dragon head open and nine light blue, energy like dragons protruded from the mouth and headed towards Yugito's stomach before sinking into it.

* * *

In an instant, Nibi's yellow eyes sprang open as she felt something reaching into the seal. Her eyes searched around as she looked for the perpetrator, but could not see anything. She growled lightly knowing this had to be the beginning of the extractions and quickly calmed herself, not wanting to waist any unnecessary energy as she had to wait for the right moment so that she could break free and escape the fate of being sealed with the others.

Her eyes continued to scan the area around her and continued to find nothing. It was an odd silence, but she knew something was coming, she just didn't know what. She knew her it wasn't her container as the girl was soul was in front of her, laying on her stomach, looking almost lifeless except for a few grimaces of pain. Whatever this extraction was doing, she could tell it wasn't pleasant as an unconscious soul should not feel very much pain, and Yugito looked like she was being put in a grinder.

Nibi gritted her teeth at this as her eyes scanned the area around her, looking for the disturbance. Though she may dislike her vessel for being a spoiled brat, she was damn well happier in here than with the other bijuu. Just as she thought that, she noticed something glow in the distance. Using her eyes like a sniper scope, she homed in on it to see an eerie blue dragon crawling towards them at a slow pace. Then she noticed that it wasn't the only one as there a dragon coming from each direction towards them.

She gritted her teeth even more as she hissed loudly and clawed the ground madly as she wasn't going to go without a fight. And she was ready to fight tooth and nail to keep her from the fate they wished on her.

* * *

Naruto ran directly Kiba, Shino, Kakashi and Yamato as they rushed through the forest as they neared the border of the Lighting Country. It had taken half a day for them to get this far, but it was worth it. Kiba had picked up a scent. At first he said it was that of a cat's and the others shrugged before he said it had a human smell to it, kind of like how Naruto smelled of foxes. Of course that made him nerves as Kiba was closing in on the fact that Naruto was a jinchuuriki himself.

He also wasn't too thrilled to come here as he had heard from Neji's story that they were responsible for his father's death and Hinata's attempted kidnapping. He knew they weren't going to do anything now, he just didn't like the fact that they tried to do so before and the fact that they would no admit to the fact that they did anything wrong.

Shaking that thought off, he continued following them as he was worried about his fellow jinchuuriki. Even though he hadn't met her, from what Kiba said, she was like him and Gaara, even though he no longer held Shukaku. And that alone was enough reason for him to save her. There wasn't many of them and the few that there were should stick together. And he refused to allow someone to die if he could save them, even if they happened to be an enemy.

Sakura jumped besides him and stayed besides him for a few moments before she moved a little closer to him and whispered. "Naruto. I know something's wrong, what is it?"

Naruto's eyes widen for a brief second before he shook his head as Sakura had become better at reading his emotions and was one of the few people he knew that was generally concerned for him. Shaking that thought off, he sighed a bit as he whispered back. "It's nothing much. I'm just worried that we are going to get there to late again like we were with Gaara. ...And I think Kiba and Shino are catching on that I'm... That I'm the same as Gaara."

Sakura smiled lightly at Naruto and patted him lightly on the back. She knew he was a caring person and the fact that he was worried about the girl that Akatsuki had just captured. But she had to sigh at the fact that she knew Shino already knew he was Kyuubi's vessel and she had an inkling that Kiba was on the verge of discovering it. "Naruto, don't worry so much. We'll get there on time. And you need to have more faith in your friends. When I find out I didn't freak out and Sasuke didn't seem to harbor... Well harbor you ill will for being it's container."

He smiled slightly at Sakura and nodded at her. "Thanks Sakura-chan. I need that."

She smiled back at him as they both turned their gaze forward and concentrated at the task at hand, not wanting to be left behind by the group. From behind them, Hinata sighed and shook her head as she looked around with her Byukugan. She wanted to be the one that comforted Naruto, but she had to be the rear look out for the group so she couldn't. And besides, she knew Sakura wasn't interested in Naruto that way, so it made no difference to her. All she wanted was to at least tell Naruto that she had feelings for him.

From in front of them, Kakashi had to refrain from smirking with Yamato as they heard the entire conversation while keeping Kiba and Shino from hearing it. Both had similar thoughts to Hinata, but without the liking him that way thoughts and the fact that Naruto was finally being accepted by those around him. Shaking their heads as well, they looked dead ahead, getting ready for the battle of their life time as the other Niju Shotai members joined them.

* * *

Sasuke walked down the trail heading towards the Lighting Country as he had just found out that the Akatsuki's next target was in Kumogakure. Behind him were his three teammates for his newly formed team snake. The large man on the right was his technical body guard known as Juugo. The guy on the left wielding Zabuza's Kubikiri Houchi was Suigetsu, who he brought along as he wanted to collect all the Mist Tenken. And in the middle of the three behind him was a red haired girl known as Karin, who had the ability to seek out chakra from ranges that shouldn't be possible.

He sighed lightly as the night sky began to settle in. He had half a mind to continue onward, but knew that would just have them tired by the time they reached there targets. "We stay here for the night."

Suigetsu looked at him oddly as he said that before shaking his head. "No, I think we can continue on. I'm not sure about the girl here... OW! ALRIGHT! I GIVE!" Karin had quickly twisted his arm and had a kunai point straight at his crotch, making him one nervous man.

"If Sasuke-sama wants to stop, we stop." She spoke in a voice laced with venom as she pointed this out by poking his crotch with the sharp kunai. Both Sasuke and Juugo mentally winced at that, glad they weren't in his place at the moment. Needless to say Suigetsu quickly conceded and set up the camp.

After a few minutes, Sasuke started the fire and had a wild boar cooking on it while Juugo sat silently on the other end. He didn't know where Suigetsu was, nor did he really care. He was still probably frightened of Karin at the moment so he was most likely hanging around in a tree somewhere nearby. Not that it mattered; she would know exactly where he was even if he was ten miles away.

Shaking his head of that, he turned back to the fire and poked it with a stick to relieve some of his boredom. It really wasn't working as he was ready to bar-be-que the damn thing after a few minutes. He could sense something was about to go down and that it would somehow involve his brother. Turning to Karin, he noticed for once that she wasn't ogling over him, but looking off into the distance. This perked his interest as it was hard for her to find something that could actually distract her from him.

Standing up, he walked over to her and stood beside her. After a moment of not being able to see something, he figured it had to deal with her extreme chakra sensing. "What's going on Karin?"

The said red head looked up at him before looking down the road once more. "I'm feeling a large amount of chakra signatures converging at one area. It's very faint, but I can sense that two of the people there have dual chakra reserves."

At this Sasuke's interest perked even more. He knew from Orochimaru that there wasn't many jinchuuriki left and that Naruto was one of them. So he instantly figured out that one of them had to be Naruto. Even though he refused to admit it, he was the blonde haired jinchuuriki's friend, but refused to say anything about it as he didn't want to sink down to his aniki's level and kill his friend to gain the Mangekyou. "Anyone else you can sense out that you would deem important?"

Karin smiled at this as this was the most he had ever talked to her before. "Sure, hold on a minute." Sasuke nodded as he waited for Karin to figure out how was all there. After a few moments and her face changing different colors from concentration, she spoke up. "I got it. I sense around twenty-four chakra signatures heading to a spot where nine, very high chakra signatures are. There even seems to be people with more chakra than even you Sasuke-sama. And one feels very similar to your own."

As soon as Sasuke heard this, he instantly put out the fire, much to the dismay of Juugo and Suigetsu, who had just arrived. He ignored them and turned to Karin quickly. "How far are they?"

Karin looked alarmed at this as she was pretty comfortable here and having Sasuke talking to her, but not to disappoint him, she answered dutifully. "They are about six to seven miles away."

Hearing this was all Sasuke needed as he turned back to the angered Juugo and Suigetsu. "Pack up. We leave."

Juugo could hold it in any longer and erupted at Sasuke. "WHY SHOULD WE LEAVE?! WE HAD A GOOD DINER SET UP AND YOU RUINED IT!"

"I GOT MY MANHOOD THREATENED BECAUSE OF YOU SAYING YOU WANTED TO STOP AND NOW YOU WANT TO LEAVE!" Yelled Suigetsu as he was still sore about that.

"Juugo, unless you want to go back in that prison of yours, you will follow me. Suigetsu, Kisame is there." Sasuke responded swiftly as he picked up his chokuto.

"Alright, let's go! I have a tenken to claim as my own!" Suigetsu said as he jumped up and quickly picked up Kubikiri Houchi. Everyone there sweat dropped at his easily swayed opinion before shaking there head as they stood up and followed Sasuke as he rushed towards the directions Karin was giving him.

* * *

Kisame sighed as he laid against the wall as he counted the scales on Samehada as he flowed a minuet portion of chakra to the statue. He looked around the room and noticed Konan was half asleep as she continued to send some of her chakra to the statue unconsciously. Smirking at this, he slowly reached into his cloak and pulled out an orange book. He knew that Jiraiya made them, but he couldn't help it. They were so good. A few of the other members noticed this and slowly slunk their way towards him.

In a few minutes, everyone in the room besides Konan, including Pein and Tobi, were besides him reading along with him. They all refrain from giggling as it would wake Konan from her daze and they didn't want that to happen. Pein of course looked like he normally did, but if you looked closely he was refraining from giggling as the rest of them. Now they normally wouldn't be doing this, but after a day and a half with no sign of danger they got very bored. And with great boredom, very strange things follow.

But it had to come to an end as Tobi was way too energetic. "WOW! I DIDN'T KNOW KONAN COULD BEND LIKE..."

Pein along with the rest of the Akatsuki members clamped their hands around his masked mouth to shut him up, but it was to no avail as Konan jerked up and heard exactly what Tobi said. Her eyes locked onto the book and absently noticed it was the fourth addition, the one she knew that Jiraiya had put her in. Killing intent leaked out of her as she approached them with the air around her shimmering in fear. They all knew they were going to die because of Tobi's big mouth.

"DAMMIT TOBI! YOU GOT US KILLED, YEAH!"

The strangling commenced as Deidara gripped his throat as the others soon pulled out weapons to kill Tobi with for bringing their doom on them. Just as they were about to start, the statue began to shake a bit. Pein noticed this as he had bit his thumb and was about to summon something to kill Tobi with when he noticed this. "Everyone, back to your stations! The extractions is about to commence!"

Everyone reluctantly stopped beating the poor Tobi and walked to their station as they got ready for the hard part of the extraction. Konan glared at all of them for a brief seconds before sighing as she would get them some other time as she pulled Tobi from the ground and walked to her station. After shaking off his beating, Tobi joined them and got ready.

* * *

Nibi hissed and yowled loudly as she tried to shake free of her chains as the dragons near closer to her. Her eyes keep shifting from each one of the dragons before moving to her chains, damning them to hell for keeping her from escaping this situation. She hissed loudly as the dragons lashed out at her, knocking Yugito's unconscious soul out of the way. She hissed even louder as she bit down on the dragon's neck in front of her, only for it to go straight through it as if it was a ghost.

She hissed even louder as four of the dragons latched onto her legs with their mouths as two others bit down on her tails while a seventh one bit down on the top of her neck to keep her from doing any damaged. Nibi hissed and yowled in anger as she tried to shake the dragons off as they seemed to be draining her chakra. The final two dragons began to chomp away at her chains as the others began to drag her. She yowled even louder as the broken chains allowed her to thrash even more, but it was to no avail.

The two dragons that were chomping her chains away finished with them as the other seven dragged a struggling Nibi. She thrashed around wildly and began to flare her chakra to the max to break free from their grip. She clawed the ground and dug her nails deeply trying to resist, but the seven dragons easily were manhandling her and dragging her out of the room. Against her better judgment, she looked back to see what the other two dragons where doing before her eyes widen to see them draining the remaining life force of Yugito as she knew that the girl could survive her being extracted from her.

Nibi yowled loudly as she clawed and bit at the dragons, doing everything she could to get free and give Yugito a fighting chance to survive. She had no clue why she cared about the girl, but she probably guessed that it would to be the eighteen years of confinement within her that changed her outlook somewhat. She shook, clawed, bit and anything else she could do to the dragons, but everything seemed to be ineffective as she was almost outside of Yugito's consciousness.

A lone tear escaped her eye as she looked back to see the life be drained from her former vessel before the two dragons went to assist the others. Her anger grew as the gripped her tails and dragged her out of Yugito's body. They had no right to finish off the vessel. All they wanted to do was extract them, so why did these dragons feed on the soul of the innocent victim? Now she couldn't say much as she had killed many people in her life time, but being the most merciful of the bijuu, she would spare those that had nothing to do with the reason she was killing.

As her anger increases so did her chakra as she struggled even further against the dragons keeping her bound. She noticed ten figures surrounding a platform and noticed Yugito's body on it. She gritted her teeth as the dragons pulled her closer to the statue as they slid into the statues mouth. Nibi narrowed her eyes as she flared her chakra to new heights, even beyond what she had originally as she thrusted around viciously, knocking a few of the dragons off her legs. With these extra appendages freed, she clawed and swiped the other dragons off of her before completely freeing themselves from their grip.

As they watch the dragons struggled to pull in Nibi's soul, the Akatsuki members continued pouring chakra into it to keep from being over powered as the amount of chakra being put out and struggling was making even Pein sweat slightly as they tried to contain the nekomata. Then in an instant, purple chakra flooded the room, blinding everyone in the room.

* * *

Naruto gritted his teeth as Kiba and Shino had both stopped as they could no longer follow the scent. This was not going as they planned. They couldn't let Akatsuki get another bijuu. And with another bijuu down, it meant they would be coming after him with more ferocity. He knew he couldn't hide it much longer, but he'd be damned that they would learn from the Akatsuki then from him.

Shaking that thought off, all he could really do was wait as they tried to find the scent once more. Kakashi had already summoned Pakkun and had him search for the scent with Akamaru, but so far they couldn't find a trail of it other than the way they came.

Sakura noticed Naruto's tension and walked besides him before leaning against the tree before sighing. She didn't know what to say to him. She couldn't say just to give up as that would be saying that she would give up if it was him in this situation. She wanted to tell him that they would find her, but that would be filling him with false hope. She sighed more to herself as she rubbed her temples as this situation was too complicated for its own good. Sometimes she wished Naruto would just be like his old self and blurt it out to them, but she knew that would be a good thing.

Just as she turned to Naruto to say something, a large blast of malevolent chakra reached them. Naruto stood up straight as he felt it an instantly recognized it. "It's demonic chakra! It's coming from over there!"

Before the others could say anything, Naruto had sped off towards where he had pointed. The others didn't need a second invitation as they followed Naruto towards his destination. Naruto quickly followed where his gut was telling him to go as he was pretty sure Kyuubi had a good idea of where it was exactly coming from. He wasn't exactly listening to the kitsune, but it would give him good advice physically when he needed it.

He quickly arrived at what seemed to be a cave entrance like the one in Suna, only this one was harder to see due to all the foliage covering the entrance. Though the barrier around the cave entrance tipped him off as it was the same as it was in Suna. The rest of the Niju Shotai arrived moments after him and noticed the barrier as well. Kakashi remembering it from before began barking out orders. "Everyone spread out and search for seals like this one right here. When you find it, you will need to destroy it so that we can move in."

Everyone nodded as they heard this and spread out as Naruto formed a Rasengan in his hand and was ready to destroy the seal when Kakashi gripped his shoulder. "Wait for it. Once the others are destroyed, and then do it as we can rush in."

Naruto nodded in understanding as Sai pulled out his utensils and began to paint quickly so he would be ready. Kiba pulled out a soldier pill and had Akamaru eat it before using a Henge to transform the dog into another him. Hinata activated her Byukugan as she looked around the area and was ready to tell Naruto when to destroy the seal. Kakashi quickly uncovered his Sharingan as he knew he was going to need it.

Hinata noticed that almost all the seals had been destroyed and when the final was, she alerted Naruto. "Naruto-kun, now!

He didn't need to be told twice as he slammed his Rasengan into the seal and blew it away with the force of a small bomb. Most of their eyes widen as they saw this wondering how much Chakra Naruto had put into it before they rushed down into the cave entrance.

* * *

Regaining their sight, each Akatsuki member pulled out their respective weapons of choice and/or got ready for battle knowing the Nekomata managed to get loose somehow. As the chakra died down, they did not see a great beast as they expected to, but a young woman that looked to be in her mid twenties slumped over Yugito's lifeless body. She had pitch black hair and golden yellow eyes that seemed to be paler than normal. Her skin was slightly pale, had two cat ears on top of her head and two tails swaying behind her.

But the most notable thing about her was that she wasn't wearing any clothes as she panted as she picked herself up. In an instant, she had Kisame and Deidara knocked out with nose bleeds and having Hidan and Itachi blush heavily while Konan face grew red with anger. Blinking a few times in surprise and repressing a nose bleed from his real body, he over came her appearance. "Contain her!"

"I will... not... be sealed... with... them. Even if it... cost me... everything..." Nibi countered while panting heavily as it consumed most of her chakra and strength to break free from the dragon's grasp and knew she couldn't beat them all together as she didn't even have enough chakra to hold her demon form. She knew she would have to call the God of Death here to bail her out, but she'd rather have her body destroyed and become one with him then to be sealed within... within that thing.

At this, all ten of them got ready for battle, though it was a mystery how Deidara and Kisame where back on their feet. Pein not having his body there, decided to step back and only assist if they needed it as he could sense that the nekomata was drained and could not back up her words. Konan was the first to make a move, probably because she was offended that Nibi wasn't wearing anything, and threw a dozen paper shuriken before taking of into the air with two paper angel wings on her back.

Hidan quickly followed her up as he threw his scythe towards the nekomata as she dodged the shuriken. Being as weakened as she was, she only avoided the scythe due to her own tails knocking her down in self defense to protect their master. Nibi rolled out of the way as a stream of flames scorched the grounds she was as Kakuzu's lion mask floated besides him. She didn't have much time to react as her neck was scraped by a kunai thrown from Itachi. But that was only a distraction for Kisame and Hidan to get in close and take a swipe at her.

Much to their surprise, she caught Samehada in her hand as well as Hidan's scythe before throwing the two like backwards like rag dolls. She looked up at all of them as she panted lightly. "I... may be weakened... but physically... Only two are stronger than me!"

With that said she grabbed the kunai that Itachi thrown at her and threw it at the clay bird floating out of Deidara's hand with blinding speeds. The clay bird exploded on impact, sending the clay user into the wall making a light crater. She was quickly forced to jump back as a horde of paper shuriken pelted the ground she was standing at. She looked back towards the group only to see Itachi finished the seals for Katon: Gokakyu and blew out a giant fire ball that was caught by a wind blast from Kakuzu.

Nibi gritted her teeth seeing this and realized she was pinned as she looked for a place to dodge. Seeing no way to do so, she took a deep breathe and breathed out flames as well, but these looked like the black flame that came from Itachi's Amaterasu. The heat in the room increased by three fold as the darkness flame quickly over came the wind powered flame as it headed towards Itachi with blinding speed. He quickly evacuated the area with a shushin. Kakuzu wasn't as luck as he managed to dodge the flames, but last his lion mask in the process. Even more unlucky was Konan, who was flying near the top of room, fell to the ground as her wings caught fire from the heat coming from the flames.

The nekomata smirked at her small victory and turned to run out of the room, only to see Tobi blocking it. "Sorry, you no pass."

Nibi growled in annoyance as she through a punch at him, but to her surprise and shock, the teenage boy caught it as if it was nothing. She could smell the boy smirk from underneath the mask before he spoke in a much deeper and powerful tone, but only loud enough for her to hear. "You will not leave here until I have what I wanted."

Her eyes widen as she heard the voice as it was so different from the one earlier, but this voice shocked her to the core. She had no clue why, but she had a small feeling that this man in front of her could make Kyuubi bow down to his will just with his voice alone. She didn't get any more time to think about it as Kisame side swiped her with Samehada. Though the blade didn't do any physical damage to her, it still drained what was left of her chakra.

Falling down to her knees, Nibi looked up as the members of Akatsuki surrounded her. She knew that any hope that she could escape on her own power was gone. She had nothing else left other than to summon the God of Death and give up her body and her freedom to him. She didn't like the idea of doing that, but she would rather it being that than having to be stuck inside a statue with the beings she hated most in the universe.

As she thought this, a few explosions rocked the walls as a bit of debris fell from the cave roof. Pein looked up towards the direction of the entrance as he heard this. "Zetsu, go find out what happened..."

Another explosion was heard this time, but this one took down the barrier. Silently cursing to himself for not having made a copy of someone to keep watch as he was too confident that no one would come after the girl, he turned around to the rest of the Akatsuki. "Get out of here now and take here with you!"

Hidan was about to retort as he believed they could get rid of them when he felt two dozen chakra signatures closing in around them. Now, he might have been confident, but the fact that they were a little out manned and a good portion of the shinobi coming after them were at least B to A-class with a few S-class among them, he wasn't going to try and test his luck. He quickly turned around and was about to grab the nekomata, only to receive a fist to his face and flew through the cave wall and temporarily out of harms way.

The others saw this and cursed lightly as the nekomata stood up shakily with a small smirk on her face. "Like hell you'll take me without a fight."

Pein cursed lightly again at this before shaking it off. "Forget her! Get out of here! I sense more coming!" With that said, his astral projection faded away along with the statue leaving the rest of Akatsuki by themselves.

Not even glancing at the others, they all quickly shushined outside the room just as Naruto along with Kakashi, Kiba and Hinata ran into the room followed by half of the Niju Shotai. Nibi fell to the ground and leaned against the wall and panted lightly as she looked over to her saviors. Seeing that they were human, she pushed herself into the corner so that no one could see her.

Kakashi noticed the body of Yugito on the platform and looked solemnly over at Naruto, knowing he wouldn't take this well. But at the moment, she wasn't the main objective and with his Sharingan eye activated cursed out loud as he noticed the chakra in the air signifying they used shushin. "Everyone they are outside."

Everyone besides Sakura, Shino and Shikamaru rushed out of the room as they noticed Naruto stay in and walk over solemnly to Yugito's body. When Naruto reached it, he closed his eyes as her lifeless eyes were staring straight at him. He shook his head and placed his hand over them before closing her eyes so he didn't have to see the haunted look in her eyes. He had failed another, but this time there would be no chance to bring them back to life. Not even Tsunade could pull it off.

Sighing lightly, he turned around to see the three behind him. He understood why Sakura was there, but not Shino and Shikamaru. Shino shook his head before responding in his normal monotone voice. "Naruto, I know this hurts, but we have to leave and find the ones responsible for this. Otherwise her death will be meaningless as your life will still be in danger."

From her corner, Nibi's eyes widen as she heard this. She had figured out that the goal of the ones that had capture Yugito was to collect the bijuu. So from this statement, he had to be a jinchuuriki as Yugito was. She hid herself even further into the corner, not wanting to be noticed as she really didn't like the others. Especially the one she could sense that was sealed in him.

Naruto's eyes widen as Shino said this and took a step back. "H-how long have y-you known?"

Nibi narrowed her eyes a bit as she could sense the fear emanating from his voice as he said that. She instantly understood the reason as he had lived the life of a true jinchuuriki and was afraid to lose friends that he had gained over time. She peaked her head out slightly to get a better look at him before her eyes widen in shock.

_'It can't be! He's the same from my dream! No freaking way that I would sleep with anything that has to deal with Kyuubi... Wait... what's that feeling coming from his stomach... It feels like a death seal...'_ Her eyes widen in realization as she saw this were her specialized eyes.

Shino shook his head as Shikamaru quickly answered for him. "We figured it out about a month after you left on your training trip with Jiraiya. I'll explain how later, but we need to go now."

Naruto nodded at him lightly and walked towards them and was about to head out when he felt another presence in the room. He quickly pulled out a kunai as did Shikamaru while Shino and Sakura tensed as they heard the movement. From the block off corner of the room, Nibi crawled out of the darkness not wanting to be left alone when she was this weak. And that she trusted this boy, as anyone that was marked with a seal from the God of Death was trustworthy in her eyes.

All four of them jumped back in surprise seeing her ears and tails and instantly and knew they were dealing with a bijuu and where wishing that they weren't left behind. Naruto was the first to calm down out of the three as he could tell that she was seriously weakened and soon was followed by the others, though all four of them didn't know that they had human forms.

Nibi looked up at Naruto as she panted lightly before she passed out from the stress and lack of chakra. Naruto had noticed her eyes for a second before she had passed out and something clicked in his mind. Before he knew it, he made a few Kage Bunshins and had them pick her up. Sakura was the first to recover as they saw this and jumped in front of him. "Naruto! What are you doing? She's a..."

"I know, but it's also true that Akatsuki is after. And her eyes... they told me she wouldn't do anything against us unless provoked. And I don't attend on giving her a reason, do you?" Naruto responded quickly much to the surprise of the others.

Shikamaru shook his head quickly. "Naruto, you're troublesome as ever, but I do agree with you that taking her with us is for the best right now. They could come back and seal her away. Now let's go before this situation becomes even more troublesome than it is."

Shino nodded in agreement while Sakura looked hesitant, before nodding as it was for the best. Naruto nodded as a clone pulled out some of his clothes and quickly slipped them onto Nibi before all four rushed out of the room as the clones carried the nekomata out of the cave.

* * *

Kakashi quickly chased after the closes chakra signature and was followed by Sai, Kiba and Hinata. Whoever it was fast as he was having a hard time keeping up with them. "Hinata, use your Byukugan and tell me who it is that we are chasing."

Hinata nodded as she activated her eyes before gasping out loud. Kakashi not liking this, turned around to see Hinata looking somewhat frightened as she answered. "I-it's S-Sasuke's b-brother..."

His face paled at the thought of going up against Itachi again as his last encounter was anything but pleasant. But this time he had a chance as Itachi's Mangekyou wasn't going to be the deciding factor this time as he had one of his own. And he had a good back up that was almost perfect for taking on an Uchiha. The only down side was the not killing him part so they could use him as bait for Sasuke to return to Konoha.

"Alright, I'm going to go on ahead and catch up to him and stall him to give you time to help me. Hinata, Kiba, Sai. When you three arrive, I want you three only to engage when I say so or if I'm in danger. And whatever you do, do not look him in the eyes. Do I make myself clear." Kakashi said in a commanding tone the entire way through making all four nod as they continued to rush behind him. Kakashi nodded seeing this before rushing in front of them with nearly blinding speeds as he rushed to capture the cause of the Uchiha massacre.

Itachi narrowed his eyes as he felt the highest of the chakra signatures following him quickly close the gap in. Sure, he wasn't going full speed, but that was because he didn't think they would catch him, but he knew this person could catch him unless he went full speed, and even then he knew he could track him. After all Kakashi was one of the few Konoha shinobi he respected.

Turning on a dime, he threw a dozen shuriken behind him just as Kakashi had caught up. Thanks to his implanted Sharingan, he had the time to react to Itachi's sudden attack and used the tree besides him as a catapult to avoid being impaled by the shuriken. Once Kakashi landed, he looked up at Itachi before standing and placing his hands in his hands in his pockets. "Yo Itachi. That isn't very much like you. You rarely ever attack first, so what gives? Are you in that much of a rush that you couldn't stick around and chat a bit?"

Itachi mentally narrowed his eyes at his former captain's words before mentally shaking his head at them. "I do not wish to waste my time with you, that is all. We already know what the results will be, so it would be wiser just to let me go."

Kakashi gave no visible reaction to him, but mentally he was screaming at himself to stall for the others as he knew that Itachi was right. Even with his single Mangekyou Sharingan, he knew Itachi was more experienced with his and had unlocked all the techniques that his eyes had to offer while he only unlocked one. Even with all that against him, he knew Itachi's fighting style well, though the reverse could have been said for him. So truthfully, all the advantages leaned to Itachi.

The only advantage he had over him was that he could summon. He silently cursed at that face knowing it wasn't even going to be helpful against him. "That maybe true, but I'm not going to allow you to get away so easily this time."

Without wasting a second, Kakashi activated his Mangekyou, in hope to catch Itachi off guard as he quickly rushed him. Instead, the said Uchiha, shockingly, looked amused as he parried the kunai strike with one of his own "So Deidara was telling the truth that you have a Mangekyou. Now that's interesting." Kakashi narrowed his eyes at this before Itachi continued. "Then shall I activate mine, or do you want to believe you have a chance."

Kakashi didn't give a visible emotion as he heard this, but seeing Itachi's Sharingan morph into a Mangekyou, he was mentally kicking his own ass as he was about to have it handed to him. He jumped back quickly and pulled his hitai-ate over his normal eye to give himself a fighting chance as he looked Itachi dead in the eyes. Itachi just stared back at him as his Mangekyou slowly spun before he whispered one word that gave Kakashi nightmares.

_"Tsukiyomi."_

Suddenly, Kakashi found himself in the same exact spot he was three years ago when he last encountered Itachi. His eyes widen as he tried to break it with his Mangekyou, but it was to no avail as Itachi walked up to him. "Kakashi, you still don't understand do you. Without Uchiha blood running through your veins, you cannot defeat me or overcoming with that eye. You would have a better chance with your own than with it. That is your downfall."

Kakashi paled hearing this. It wasn't that he had forgotten what the rogue Uchiha had said; it was that he was confident that his eyes could at least stall him off a bit. But he was dead wrong and could only hope that the Hinata, Kiba and Sai would get their soon, otherwise he might just die today. His eyes widen as he suddenly found himself free of his bondage, but something was dead wrong. All he could see where the corpses of the ones he cared about the most. That when he heard Itachi's voice from all around him.

"For the next 72 hours, you will be force to run from the corpses of you precious people as they come back to life to devour your flesh."

All the blood left Kakashi as he heard this and just as Itachi's voice had said, all of his precious people began to resurrect in front of him. Tears began to well in his eyes as Itachi had some way found to emulate how each one died of the ones that were no longer amongst the living.

He saw Obito's crushed body crawl its way over to him, ignoring the fact that one of its arms was crushed as well. Rin was crawling towards him as well, only her top part as her bottom was left behind her as it was severed during Kyuubi's attack. He noticed his sensei, the Yondaime Hokage, the only whole one out of the group moaning and groaning as he walked over to him. But these weren't the worse of them all.

The worse in his eyes happen to be the ones of his team now. He saw Naruto's body covered in cuts and the lifeless eyes he saw from the girl that they failed to save and to make it worse was he was walking besides his father and idol, the Yondaime. Sakura was limping her way towards him as her ankle was broken and a kunai was stuck in her chest, where her heart should be as blood oozed out of it showing that it was recent. Sasuke was there as well, but was looking worse for the wear and without his eyes.

Gai, Kurenai and Asuma were there as well. Gai had his bones snapped and his flesh mangled as if he went through a grinder. Asuma had his throat slit as his body with multiple stab wounds. Kurenai was the one that nearly make him break down as her clothes where ripped off and it was obvious to him from the smell that she was raped before being stabbed repeatedly in the head.

Kakashi closed his eyes, not able to bear looking at them as he turned around and was about to run, only to run into something. His eyes snapped open and his tears fell freely as he noticed who he ran into. It was his father, Hatake Sakumo, with his stomach ripped in two as if he had committed suppuku. Kakashi's heart jumped to his throat as he saw this and stepped back, not believing what he was seeing. As he did this, he bumped into the Yondaime, who in turned gripped his shoulders.

He turned back to look at him and looked at his senseis eyes and for a brief moment, thought he could see the compassion in his eyes, but it turned to horror as he bit down onto his bone and ripped a chunk of his flesh out. He jerked away, only to run into Naruto's zombie and have him bit down on his stomach. He screamed in pain as he tried to pull out of his gasp, but the others had grabbed him and started biting into his flesh and ripping chunks out of him and swallowed them.

His screams of pain increased by the second as they pulled him down to ground and continued to rip and shred pieces of his flesh out of him as he struggled to break free. That's when Obito and Rin had finally made it to him. Obito gripped Kakashi's neck as Rin did the same with Kakashi's leg before they bit down harshly and pulled back, ripping his flesh with them. Kakashi's screams stopped, but he was still alive even as they tore and ate his vitals and knew he should have already died from this. Even when the striped him to the bone, he could still feel the pain.

Then he found himself whole once more and he was looking at their bodies resurrecting once more as he heard Itachi's monotone voice.

"Seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds left.

Kakashi's screams were only stopped when his throat was ripped out each time.

Itachi watch Kakashi's body fall to the ground remorselessly as he pulled out a kunai as he kicked Kakashi's body over so he was lying on his back. He quickly brought his kunai to his throat before slashing through it, ending the Copy Cat's life just as Hinata, Kiba and Sai arrived. All three of their eyes widen as Hinata covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

Itachi's eyes shifted towards them as he stood up and looked at them. His right eye began to show its veins as they bulged out and blood began leaking from the corners of his eye. "I do not have the time to waist on you. _Amaterasu!_"

Seeing everyone in danger from this obviously powerful jutsu as they were told to get out of the way if they ran into Itachi and he used it, Kiba, in an act of bravery, pushed Hinata and Sai out of the way. As soon as he did, his body was vaporized on contact as the black flames consumed him. Hinata couldn't refrain from screaming this time as even Sai looked shock to the core. Itachi on the other hand turned around and ran off after uttering one word.

"Pathetic."

* * *

Ibiki, Kotetsu and Izumo were hot on Konan's tail as she has shushined besides them. All three of them had tried to ambush her, but it failed as they both where surprised and now they were forced to chase her. And it wasn't helping that she was putting distance between them every second as she was much faster then they were. And their kunai and shuriken that they thrown at her seemed to never reach her as they mysteriously blocked by what looked like to be paper shuriken and kunai.

Of course this was confusing them as they didn't understand how a paper shuriken could effectively block a regular one, but they couldn't think about that right now as they had a job to do. Ibiki looked around at the area as he tried to come up with a plan; otherwise they were never going to catch her. In a moment of Naruto madness, he came up with a simple, yet effective strategy. He quickly completed the seal for a Kage Bunshin and one poofed besides him and grabbed his arm before spinning him around and throwing him like a discus.

His plan worked as he soared passed Konan and landed on the tree in front of her before diving at her knocking her to the ground. Konan quickly jumped up, but realized that she was surrounded by the three of them. Taking a look at her opponent and quickly analyzing her own abilities, she wasn't too worried. She could handle them, but she didn't want to waist any time so she would make this quick. "You three made a big mistake by not letting me go."

All three narrowed their eyes and prepared for battle. Konan on the other hand hadn't even moved and continued to gaze at them with her cold eyes laced with her killer intent. Ibiki easily brushed it off as he had seen worse, but it was harder for Kotetsu and Izumo as they had nerve felt anything like it before and could quite honestly were surprised that this was the difference between them and a Kage leveled shinobi. Seeing this, he had to give a boost of confidence in both of them so they could stand a chance. "Hmp. Is that all? It's going to take more than killer intent to get us to back down."

At this, both the chunin gain some of their courage back and nodded with him. But in response, Konan made them lose it. "I know. That's why you should look up."

Ibiki narrowed his eyes hearing this and was about to think it was a trap when Konan suddenly turned into a spiral of paper butterflies. His eyes widen as he looked up and noticed Konan flying in the air with two paper angel wings holding her up before she circled around them, throwing and dropping paper kunai at them at an alarming rate and number. Using his experience, Ibiki managed to avoid all of them while Izumo and Kotetsu where nicked and buzzed by them, but no serious damaged. He was about to look up again and come up with a plan to defeat her when he noticed that she was gone. That's when he noticed the sizzling sound.

"SHIT! EXPLOSIVE TAGS! GET OUT OF HERE!"

A large explosion filled the clearing and knocked a few trees down just seconds after.

* * *

Deidara was quickly running with Kisame following him closely and was glad that no one had followed them. Most had ended up going after Kakuzu, Hidan Itachi and Konan. He'd knew they would never get Konan unless they had wings and Itachi was insured to get away as barely anyone in Konoha could take him on, or would want to take him on. He was absently pissed that Tobi seemed to have disappeared from their sights as soon as this was said, but he considered that a good thing as long as he didn't hear...

"DEIDARA-SEMPAI! I FOUND YOU!"

"GODDAMMIT TOBI! SHUT UP WILL YOU, YEAH! I'M PRETTY SURE EVERYONE IN A TEN MILES RADIUS HEARD YOU!"

Deidara began his customary strangling of the odd teen as Kisame sweat dropped at the scene and glad no one was seeing this as it would put a serious dent in his pride knowing the Akatsuki where suppose the best of the best. Sighing a bit, he was about to continue running until he saw a very familiar blade being swung at him. "What the hell? I thought Zabuza died... OH SHIT!"

He quickly parried it with Samehada before jumping back as Suigetsu walked out into the clearing with a wicked smirked on his face. Deidara let go of Tobi as his hands reached into his pouch before he was forced to jump back as hail of kunai landed where he was. Tobi had no such warning as he was impaled by the kunai in almost every vital organ.

From the opposite end of the tree line, Sasuke stepped out with Karin and Juugo. Sasuke scanned over Deidara and Kisame before speaking in his usual indifferent tone. "Where is my brother?"

In response Kisame shrugged as Deidara answered. "I seriously don't know, yeah. We all scattered as the damn Konoha ninja invaded our base. So go find someone else to bother, we have no time for you, yeah."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this response. He knew it was the truth as he could see it on both of their faces, but he wasn't going to let them get away. He had a few reasons of why not to, but he decided that he would just get rid of a potential threat right now than have it coming back to bite him in the ass. "I can't do that. You see, you are helping my brother, therefore are my enemy."

Deidara narrowed his eyes at this as he collected some clay into his hands and waved Sasuke on. "Fine by me then. I've been waiting to have this device tested out against a Sharingan user..."

"OW! THAT HURT!"

All eyes turned to Tobi as he got up and pulled the kunai out of him and he was seemingly unharmed from them. Everyone there eyes widen in shock, except Sasuke as I shocked Uchiha didn't fit his families image so he was mildly surprised. He was the first to over come up as he seen Naruto recover from attacks he should not have gotten up from. The others quickly followed after seeing Sasuke over come it and focused on their opponent.

Suigetsu didn't let a moment pass before he charged Kisame. Samehada and Kubikiri clashed in a display of sparks as they grinded against each other before Kisame kicked him back. The shark man rushed towards him and parried the counter swing from Suigetsu before landing a knee into his gut and then the hilt of his blade into his chest, but instead of damaging him it went through him as though he was water. Kisame cursed lightly at this and ducked below Suigetsu's swing and sweeped kicked him, knocking him off his feet.

He grabbed Samehada in mid air and brought it down on Suigetsu, who barely parried the blade but still was hit by the tip though he liquefied to keep it from doing any real damage. Kisame tried to over power him in an attempt to end the fight there and as he did, he noticed a few water bottles on his possession. His cunning mind instantly took over knowing that Suigetsu needed water and chakra to be able to liquefy himself and knew what he had to do to end this battle. Shifting his stances a bit, he hit one of the water bottles and broke it before jumping back to avoid having his feet cut off.

Suigetsu quickly jumped up and gritted his teeth as a decent portion of his chakra was drained when the tip hit him and that one of his water bottles was destroyed. Kisame smirked seeing this before grinning like a mad man. "Suigetsu, you really don't think you can win this fight on your own do you? I know all about your abilities and even your new ones. Helped that Orochimaru was part of Akatsuki for a while."

Kisame smirked grew as he noticed Suigetsu's anger grow before he charged him. Kisame easily parried the swings as they were a bit sloppy due to his anger. He continued parrying his strikes till he was able to get up close and grab and crush one of the water bottles, even though Suigetsu attempt to arc back with his water morphing abilities. Kisame smirked as he started to go on the attack and quicken his swings and slashes, forcing Suigetsu on the defense as the shark man was moving at unbelievable speeds for his size.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to grab his one of two remaining bottles of water to hydrate himself, but Kisame wasn't allowing that as he continued to attack him faster and faster. Suigetsu was forced to keep all of his focus and parrying his strikes to keep more chakra from being drained and making his need for water useless. Gritting his teeth, he final noticed Kisame letting up a bit and used this opportunity to jump back and gain some distance from him. He pulled out one of his water bottles only to see the water rising out of both of them before turning into a small dragon and splashing against the ground.

Suigetsu looked up to see Kisame smirking as he moved his hands out a seal and grip Samehada. "Ah, ah, ah. I don't want you to be able to liquefy on me again. It is hard to have fun when you can't make your opponent bleed."

His eyes widen as Kisame shot off towards him with frightening speeds. He brought up Kubikiri in defense, but Kisame slid past it with ease and caught hold of his arm. Using the last of his liquefying ability till he got more water, he let Samehada rip through his arm doing no damage other than draining more of his chakra. As he did this, he thrusted Kubikiri towards Kisame and caught his chest before the shark man jumped back to keep any real damage from being done.

Kisame gritted his teeth slightly before smirking as he felt Samehada pulse in his grip while Suigetsu looked somewhat tired. His smirk grew as he placed his sword in front of him and got into stance before rushing Suigetsu. The water morpher barely had time to react as he jumped to the side and tried to slash at Kisame's legs, only for the shark man to jump over it and bring Samehada down upon him. Suigetsu's eyes widen as he attempted to roll out of the way, but had his ankle caught and crushed. Kisame smirked at this before pulling back, ripping his foot off.

Suigetsu bit his tongue to keep from yelling in pain and gripped Kubikiri tighter as he looked up at Kisame. He wasn't giving up just yet, nor planned to. Just as Kisame was about to attack, they both sensed a large amount of chakra being put out and Kisame's eyes widen. "Oh hell no! That suicidal bomber isn't doing that! Sorry, Suigetsu, I can't stick around to kill you now."

With that said, Kisame rushed out of the area, leaving a confused Suigetsu who was trying to stand up.

Juugo and Karin where trying to figure out to do with their opponent. No matter what they did to him, he just kept on getting back up. And soon as he did, every single wound they put on him, he stood up as if they didn't do a thing and then complained that it hurt. Karin gritted her teeth in annoyance as Tobi stood up once more looking no worse for the where, even though she had just put a kunai through his had as Juugo had crushed his legs and chest.

"Ow! That really hurt you know!"

Karin refrained from screaming in annoyance as she didn't know what was worse. The fact that they couldn't kill him or the fact that his voice was so damn annoying. Juugo on the other hand couldn't control himself and went into a blind rage. Karin's eyes widen seeing this and jumped back, ready to defend herself if he didn't recognize her. Juugo rushed Tobi and quickly was on him as his knuckles turned into miniature blades and began to pummel the orange masked teen. Oddly enough once more Tobi did not try to dodge as he absorbed punch after punch with the blades piercing into him and stabbing his internal organs.

With one last strike, Juugo undid his blades before smashing his fist into the teens face, crushing his skull in and sending him flying through a few trees. Juugo panted lightly as his eyes unclouded making Karin sigh in relief as she jumped besides the crazed orange hair man. After checking out the damage, she nodded lightly at Juugo. "Good work. I think that got..."

Her eyes widen as Tobi stood up once more as his part of his mask was cracked, but still intact. Even Juugo's eyes widen in slight shock as he never seen anyone that could take the amount of damage they had inflicted upon him and just keep getting back up as if it was nothing. Tobi shook his head as he was probably still feeling the effects of having his head crushed in before looking at them.

"OW! Will you stop that already?! I said it really hurts!"

This time neither could handle it as the both screamed in rage as they charged the seemingly invincible Tobi. Karin reached him first being the faster of the two and drove a kunai into his heart before pulling it out and continued to stab him rapidly in no particular place. Juugo arrived right after her and had turned his fist into what seemed to be clubs and began to beat down on Tobi, crushing him into ground and breaking as many bones as he could. The two didn't stop for a second as they continued stabbing and beating, hoping that it would kill him as his blood sprayed on their face.

After a few minutes, the both stopped and stood up as they panted heavily as they looked down at him. Karin shook her head as she wiped the blood of her face before turning to Juugo. "That is enough. No one can get up from that. Let's go help Suigetsu and Sasuke-sama.

Juugo nodded in agreement as he followed her and just as were heading towards where the others were fighting, they heard something moving behind them. They both rapidly turned around and their eyes widen in shock and fear as Tobi once more was standing up, seemingly unharmed from their assault. Karin backed up in fear as she shook her head, not believing this. "No. This can't be possible. He should be dead by now. Nothing can survive that! SO WHY IS STILL STANDING?!"

Tobi popped his neck and other joints as he put them back into place. His sighed lightly as he looked down and noticed his mask was shredded into pieces. Well, he didn't need it know anyways, he was going to kill these two. Once he was sure he had recovered, he turned to the still stunned Karin and Juugo. Both of their eyes widen even further as they saw two Mangekyou Sharingan spinning violently at them before Tobi spoke in the same commanding tone he used on Nibi. "I was going to allow you live as I didn't want to reveal myself, but now you are going no where."

Juugo instantly jumped in front of Karin as he transformed his body, preparing himself to fight. "Karin, please go warn Sasuke-sama about this. He must know that we found the other that murdered his family."

Karin looked up at Juugo oddly, never seeing him like this before, but nodded her head as she turned around and sprinted towards the others knowing what she must do. Tobi smirked viciously at Juugo before speaking in a cold tone. "How brave of you. To sacrifice yourself for that worthless insect, knowing that he will die."

"I don't care what the future holds for me. But Kimimaro sacrificed himself for Sasuke-sama, so therefore his life is already more important than mine. And do not underestimate Sasuke-sama; he is much more powerful than you think." Responded Juugo calmly, knowing he was at his end of life.

Tobi shrugged uncaringly as he looked straight at him. "Since I'm in a hurry, I will allow the girl to live for now. But if it is death you want, I will grant you that. _Amaterasu."_

As she ran, Karin could hear Juugo's screams of pain before she sensed his chakra signature fade soon after. Unknown to her, she had a lone tear escape her eye before she turned back and ran towards Sasuke's signature. On the way, she found a struggling Suigetsu as he tried to stand up. Quickly helping him up and giving him her shoulder to move, she continued to rush towards Sasuke's signature.

Sasuke looked on passively as he continued to counter the clay bird flying towards him with well aimed kunai. His Sharingan easily located the clay birds and he could easily dispatch them before they got close to him to do any real damage. Of course though he was getting annoyed from the amount of there were. He knew he was running low on kunai and shuriken as he was being forced to use Kunai and Shuriken Kage Bunshin to counter the increasing number of the birds, spiders and other odd creatures he didn't know what to call.

Getting annoyed at this fact that he hadn't been able to go on the offensive yet, he silently activated his curse seal and the black marks scattered around his body. Using his Sharingan, he searched for Deidara as he continued to pick off the clay incarnations while he was forced to begin to dodge them as he wanted to conserve his weaponry. Looking up, he noticed Deidara flying on a rather large clay bird as he jumped back to avoid a spider falling onto him.

He landed on the tree and quickly jumped off as it exploded as two birds collided with each other. Grabbing another shuriken, he threw it towards Deidara while doing a few seals to turn into a few dozen shuriken. Deidara weaved his bird through them while getting a few scratches as he was a sitting duck when he was in the air. Sasuke quickly landed and noticed the difficulty it took for Deidara to dodge the shuriken.

A small smirk grew on his face as he activated his curse seal once more and his appearance change as two hand like wings grew from his back. Now they didn't give him the ability to fly, but they acted as a great shield and he could also use them to glide. He closed the wings around him as a few clay birds and spiders collided with him, barely even scratching his wings.

Deidara looked on as he saw his birds impact Sasuke to see whether or not they succeeded. As the dust began to settle, he saw that he wasn't there anymore. His eyes widen as he felt something behind him and the sound of a thousand birds chirping and turned around to see Sasuke gliding towards him with frightening speeds. His eyes widen as he knew he would be able to dodge on his bird so he did the only he could do and jumped off. Unfortunately this played straight into Sasuke's hand as he pulled back his wings and dove straight at the falling bomber.

He smirked seeing the horrified look on Deidara as his Chidori pierced his heart. Instantly he knew something was wrong as his inside didn't feel right. In fact they felt like clay. His eyes widen as he pulled his hand back and brought his wings in front of him as he tried to jump back as Deidara exploded, leveling the clearing.

Deidara flew above clearing as he looked to see if his exploding clone did the trick. Even before the dust settle, a horde of kunai and shuriken erupted from the cloud. Cursing loudly, Deidara jumped off his bird as it was shredded into pieces and exploded. Luckily for him the explosion wasn't to large so he was only slightly singed by it. He land in a knelt position as he looked around through the dust with his mechanical device to try and locate Sasuke. His eyes widen as he jumped up and barely avoid taking Sasuke's chokuto to his heart as he busted from the ground.

Unleashing a few more clay birds to give him some time, Deidara jumped back as he began to form stronger clay explosives in order to bring down the younger Uchiha. He knew C-3 was as high as he could go with going suicidal on him, and he didn't want to resort to that unless he knew he was going to lose.

Sasuke quickly sliced through the birds using a Chidori current and his chokuto before turning to Deidara. He instantly noticed chakra being channeled to his hands again, but this time it was much more than before. He could only theorize that these were going to be bigger on more destructive like his clone was. Not wanting to give him a chance to do more damage, Sasuke quickly threw a few kunai combined with his current before rushing the explosives expert.

Deidara quickly dodge the kunai and was glad he did as he notice them pierce through the trees behind like a hot knife through butter. But before he moved again, Sasuke was upon him and his chokuto was aimed straight at his heart. Deidara quickly shifted his body to the side only for his shoulder to get pierced instead. He gritted his teeth and tried to back hand the younger Uchiha, but Sasuke quickly grabbed his other hand with his. Deidara gritted his teeth before jumping up and using Sasuke as spring board and jump away from him, only to have Sasuke's chokuto cut through more of his shoulder, nearly slicing it off.

He grunted in pain as he looked up as Sasuke looked ready to charge again. Seeing his left arm was useless and the electric current in Sasuke's other hand had stopped his chakra molding to his right arm, he knew he wasn't getting out of this fight alive. Undoing the top portion of his cloak and ripping his shirt underneath it in half, he revealed his chest had a giant mouth on it. Sasuke looked oddly at this until he saw Deidara pick up his pouches and dump all his clay into the mouth.

His eyes widen in an instant that this was not good as all of Deidara's chakra began flowing to his chest and especially knew it wasn't as Deidara began to laugh at him. From what he had seen in the battle, the amount of chakra used for the clay had to purposes. One, it increased the strength of the explosion and two; it increased the time if he used more than he need to make it. And he knew this was the case now.

Biting his thumb, Sasuke went through a few seals just as Karin ran into the clearing with an injured Suigetsu. Just as they stood besides him, his palm hit the ground as he shouted out the name of his jutsu.

_"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_

In a large gust of smoke, a large purple snake filled the clearing, alerting everyone to Sasuke's presence. Manda looked up and hissed loudly as he saw Sasuke. **"Boy! What are you doing summoning me?! No one other than that rat Orochimaru is allowed to summon me!"**

Sasuke just looked Manda dead in the eyes with his Sharingan spinning wildly at him. "Manda, I will only say this once. I have absorbed Orochimaru and if you do not obey me, I will kill you. Now get us out of here, or I will force you to get us out of here and then kill you."

Looking Sasuke dead in the eyes, Manda could detect no variance in his voice and could tell the Uchiha was dead serious with his threat. And with a quick taste of the air, he could tell that he had indeed absorbed Orochimaru and was more than powerful enough to kill him. Still, he wasn't going to bend down to his will that easily. **"Boy do not think you can threaten me! I will give into your request this time, but next time I demand a tribute of at least a hundred humans."**

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but nodded lightly to please the snake, but by no means was he giving into its demands. Seeing his nod, Manda slithered out of the area with unreal speeds as Deidara began to glow brightly before erupting, leveling the entire forest and catching Manda in its blast.

* * *

Asuma, Ino and Chouji were in trouble and they knew it. They had originally had been chasing Kakuzu as they felt they had a chance against him, only for him to run into a cussing Hidan rubbing his face. It went down hill after that as both decided that staying and fighting was a better idea than running from the three that were chasing.

Both Chouji and he were still standing and do pretty well considering they were going up against to S-class nukenin, but Ino had already passed out. She had succeeded in possessing Hidan for a second, but a strange light had forced her out with the utmost ease. And the jutsu was always draining for her to begin with, but being forced out that easily was humiliating. And the fact that she had been his by a lighting bolt as soon as she returned to her body wasn't helping things.

All three cursed lightly that Shikamaru wasn't there as at least then they could have some sort of plan on winning this fight, as at the rate they were going, they weren't going to last to much longer. Chouji quickly used his Nikudan Sensha to try and steam roll over the two Akatsuki members, but neither were stupid enough to stand still and let that happen. They both quickly dodged him as Kakuzu's bird mask hit him with Futon: Atsugai and blew him into the trees and taking him out of the fight temporarily.

Hidan quickly rolled to his feet and parried Asuma's trench knife, but had his cheek cut by the extended wind blade at the end of it. He gritted his teeth as he pushed Asuma back before pulling his scythe back and slashing at Konoha's wind expert. Asuma barely managed to avoid it as he jumped back before rushing back at Hidan and cut the upper of his shoulder. Hidan grunted before jamming the butt end of his scythe into Asuma's gut before trying to cut him with his scythe.

Asuma easily dodge it only to be struck by two bolts of lighting. He gritted his teeth before rolling away from Hidan to see both Kakuzu and him advancing upon him. He cursed silently to himself as he saw Ino slowly pushing herself off the ground and Chouji leaning against the tree, trying to get back into the fight. He knew they wouldn't be getting back into the fight soon and that he was on his own.

Quickly set himself up in his Hein stance and awaited for them to make the first move. He wasn't disappointed as Hidan rushed him as Kakuzu followed him up with a Futon: Atsugai. He quickly jumped out of the way and allowed Hidan to get blasted by his partners attack before rushing towards Kakuzu seeing he was the long distance fighter and had a better chance of taking him out, he hoped.

Kakuzu's ox mask shot two lighting bolts out of its mouth, but Asuma easily dodged them and began slashing at him with his trench knives. Kakuzu not being as capable in close range as Asuma was having a hard time evading him, but it really didn't matter as the extended wind blades were bouncing off him due to his Iron Body technique from his earth element heart. Asuma narrowed his eyes seeing that he wasn't doing any damage and they were trading blows in hand to hand. His hands hurt every time they connected on Kakuzu as if he was punching metal while every blow that was landed on him felt like it broke something.

Not being able to withstand this kind of an assault, Asuma jumped back and panted lightly. Something was right here. No matter what he did it seemed that neither felt the damage he inflicted upon them or even take damage. He growled lightly at them as he settled into his stance again seeing Hidan rushing him once more. Gritting his teeth, he rushed him back only to receive a cut on his chest from Hidan's scythe before he was blasted away by a blast of wind from Kakuzu's bird mask.

Hidan smirked as he licked the blood of his blade. "Jashin will be pleased with this sacrifice. Kakuzu, give me a few moments."

His partner nodded and began to walk towards Asuma. Asuma gritted his teeth as he was forced to dodge lighting bolts and blast of wind from Kakuzu as he watch Hidan transform. Growling lightly, he tried to rush him only to be stopped by Kakuzu, who seemed to be smirking at him. Hidan had finished his seal and was about to step into it when he suddenly stopped and dropped his scythe as an all familiar voice to him was heard.

"Kage Mane success. Naruto take him down!"

_"RASENGAN!"_

Naruto jumped out of the tree lines with a Rasengan in hand. Just as he reached Hidan, Shikamaru released the shadow so he wouldn't take any damage from Naruto's Rasengan as it rammed into Hidan's chest, sending the immortal flying towards Asuma. Smirking at this, Asuma grabbed Hidan before slashing at his neck, decapitating him in one stroke. He quickly turned around as Naruto, Sakura, Shin and Shikamaru surrounded Kakuzu with him. "Give it up and come with us quietly. You cannot win this fight."

"Dammit! Kakuzu I need some help here!"

All they're eyes widen as Hidan's head yelled at his partner. Kakuzu rolled his eyes as strings shot out of his body and began to slowly attach his head to his body once more. Regaining control of his body and seeing the rest of them were too shocked to do anything, stepped into the seal before grabbing his pike from his cloak and stabbing himself in the heart. In an instant, blood began seeping from Asuma's chest as a deep a large appeared before he collapsed to the ground. Seeing this, Kakuzu quickly patched up the rest of Hidan's neck and chest before they both rushed out of the area, not wanting to test their luck any longer.

Ino was the first to recover as she saw this and the blood seeping from her senseis neck before screaming, snapping everyone out of their shock. All of their eyes widen as they rushed towards Asuma's limp body. Using the last of his strength, Asuma coughed up blood before speaking a very light voice as it was difficult to say anything at all. "Sorry... guys. I'm not going... to make it this time... Shikamaru... take care... of Kurenai for me... And don't... become whipped... Ino... do your father proud... Chouji... lay off... the chips..."

He coughed up more blood as he spoke. Ino tried to stop him from speaking but Chouji held her back as he knew it was too late. Shikamaru on the other hand was standing still with a look of regret on his face. Asuma eyes slowly closed as the last of his strength left him and laid motionless on the ground. Ino tried to shake him awake and after a moment she realized it was too late and tears began to well up in her eyes. Chouji quickly hugged in comfort as Naruto turned to Shikamaru to say something, but stopped as he saw the shadow user's face.

Shikamaru was gritting his teeth as his chakra slowly swirled around him while everyone shadow began to bend towards as if they were sensing his anger. Naruto's eyes widen as he saw this and knew what was going to happen. "Shikamaru no!"

It was too late as the lazy genius had turned around and gave chase to Hidan and Kakuzu. Both Ino and Chouji seeing this quickly chased after him intending on helping him. Naruto cursed lightly before turning to the others. "Sakura stay here and guard the cat lady incase someone comes back for her! Shino, let's go!"

Shino nodded as they both rushed off after them leaving Sakura to sigh as Naruto's clones walked into the clearing, carrying Nibi and laid her down on a tree. She sighed more before looking around and keeping watch. After a minute, Yamato jumped into the clearing with Neji, Lee and Tenten behind him. His eyes widen slightly seeing Asuma before cursing lightly and turned to Sakura. "Where are the others?"

Sakura sighed lightly before pointing towards where they went. "Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji chased after the two that did this to Asuma and Naruto and Shino followed them to help them out."

Yamato nodded as Neji, Lee and Tenten quickly gave pursuit, not wanting to leave their friends to deal with this by themselves. Yamato sighed as he walked up to Asuma and checked his vitals before looking up at Sakura. "Why did you stay behind...?" His eyes widen as he saw two Naruto clone's besides Nibi as she slumped further into the tree. "A bijuu... How did we...?"

"You left too quickly and she was hiding in so we couldn't see or sense her. Naruto brought her with us saying that they might come back for her." Answered Sakura quickly, not wanting to give him the wrong impression. Yamato thought about it for a second before nodding as it was a very likely possibility.

Shaking his head, he looked at Sakura. "Go helped them. I'll stay here seeing that I can repress her chakra if she becomes hostile."

Sakura nodded and quickly rushed towards were her friends were, not wanting to see anyone else die today. Yamato sighed lightly as he looked at her before turning to the Naruto clones and sighing. "Figures you would have to bring her along."

* * *

Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru had finally caught up to Hidan and Kakuzu and cut their retreat off. Shikamaru focused was completely on the now stitched up Hidan as Chouji and Ino's eyes were on Kakuzu. Shikamaru didn't give them any time to think as he trapped Hidan in his Kage Mane and began to walk away from Kakuzu. Both Chouji and Ino's eyes widen as they saw this but he interrupted them before they could say anything. "Do not worry about me. For what I seen on how he fights, my skills negate his and it's best to separate them so he can't be put back together again. Besides, Naruto and Shino are coming and they'll help you take him down."

Ino would have protested when Chouji shook his head. "Let him go, he's right. Besides, we have to deal with him." Chouji pointed at Kakuzu.

She wanted to argue, but didn't as she looked her gazed on him before growling lightly at him. "You are going to pay."

Kakuzu just smirked at them, figuring he would finish this fight quickly as two of his mask detached from him and lifted into the air. "I don't think so. I don't wasting my money on childish things."

Shikamaru continued leading Hidan through the forest, purposely having him run into trees and anything else along the way, not caring that it hurt him as well. Hidan of course didn't exactly like this himself. He didn't mind the pain, but the fact that he wasn't causing it pissed him off. Growling, he was forced to follow Shikamaru as they stopped besides a canyon.

Looking around him, Shikamaru nodded before reaching into his weapons pouch and pulling out a sheet of explosive tags. Hidan scoffed at that. "Give it up boy, you cannot kill me."

Shikamaru didn't answer as he walked around Hidan and placed them as he were he wanted to before moving to where he placed Hidan directly were he wanted him. Hidan of course was fighting against Shikamaru's hold, but it seemed he just couldn't break free. He wasn't worried as he knew he'd survive whatever the kid threw at him, he just wanted to get out of here before more came and they managed to capture him.

The lazy genius turned back to him and pointed at the canyon, making Hidan point at it as well. "Do you know what that is?"

Hidan refrained from laughing at him as any idiot could tell what it was. "Of course, it's a canyon you asshole! I'm not retarded like that shark Kisame!"

Shikamaru shook his head at head before glaring at him with hatred equal to that of Sasuke's for Itachi. "Yes, I know that as well, but do you know what it is called?"

At this, Hidan attempt to raise his eyebrow, not really caring but was semi-interested as he had a feeling the brat was trying to throw him into it. "Nope. Geography isn't my thing. I prefer killing people than paying attention to landscape around me."

Hearing this made Shikamaru smirk at him before looking down in it, making Hidan as well. "It is known as Sokonashi Goruju, a bottomless canyon. No one that has ever fallen into it has ever come back out. A fitting place for you to spend the rest of eternity in."

Hidan's eyes widen hearing this as he tried struggling against Shikamaru's Kage Mane, but was stopped as a few shadow tendrils impaled his legs. He gritted his teeth as he fell to the ground and looked up to Shikamaru, how pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Taking a few puffs of it, he flicked it over towards the immortal. "Go to hell."

The cigarette landed on an explosive tag as Shikamaru released his Kage Mane, resulting in a large eruption that blew up Hidan's body into a few pieces before they plummeted into the gorge, never to be seen again.

Both Chouji and Ino panted lightly as the looked towards Kakuzu, who seemed to be getting rather bored as his bird mask blasted them with another Futon: Atsugai. Ino hit a tree as Chouji rolled into her, knocking the young blonde girl out. Kakuzu walked over to them as Chouji tried to pick himself up, but failed to do so. He gritted his teeth as Kakuzu was standing above them and had pulled out a kunai.

Just as he was about to bring it down and end Chouji's life, a foot connected to his face followed by an orange and black clothed figure landing in the spot Kakuzu once stood. Chouji's eyes widen as he saw this. "Naruto! Get out of here!"

Naruto looked back at him as Shino landed besides them and checked Ino out to see if she was alright. "Don't worry. I can handle myself Chouji. Just worry about recovering."

Chouji gritted his teeth angrily at Naruto because he wasn't listening to him. "Naruto listen to me! He can't be physically damaged! Nothing I did even hurt him!"

Both Naruto and Shino narrowed his eyes at this. Naruto shook his head as he turned back from Chouji and faced Kakuzu as he stood back up. "I will not leave you two behind."

As soon as Naruto said this he charged Kakuzu and reached him before delivering a left hook to his chin, only for him to here a few of his knuckles crack from the blow. The said immortal smirked before he back handed Naruto sending him skidding across the ground. Naruto growled lightly as he wiped a bit of blood of his mouth as he glared at Kakuzu as he shook his hand. _'What the hell? It felt like I just punched a steel beam. Is this what Chouji was talking about?'_

Kakuzu rushed towards Naruto and quickly engaged him. Naruto weaved in and out of his strikes as they felt a little weaker than Sakura's, but stung even more as he wasn't blown back from the blow. And it wasn't helping that attacking him hurt just as much as his fist began to bleed from the strikes he was landing. He gritted his teeth as he tried to form a Rasengan to push him back, only for Kakuzu to grip his wrist.

"Sorry, not allowing you use that on me." Naruto gritted his teeth at Kakuzu as he tried to form another with his other hand, but only had it gripped by Kakuzu's other hand. "You're not getting away this time Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

Naruto's eyes widen hearing this knowing Chouji was up and he hadn't told him yet. Kakuzu brought his mask up in front of him and aimed them straight at Naruto. The said jinchuuriki gritted his teeth as he tried everything he could to break free of his grip, but nothing seemed to work. Just as the masked opened their mouths and were about to fire, they fell to the ground as their strings were severed before a loud cry was heard.

_"Konoha Senpu!"_

A foot connected with Kakuzu's face and two large cracks where heard as Kakuzu went flying and Lee landed gingerly on his feet. Both Neji and Tenten ran into the area quickly followed by Sakura who immediately got to work on Chouji and Ino. Shino jumped up besides Naruto as his bugs flew back to him from the masks making Naruto smirk lightly. "Thanks Shino, Lee. I need that." He turned to Neji before smirking. "This guy seems right up your alley Neji, he seems to have iron skin and neither Chouji nor I could do any damage to it."

Neji activated his Byukugan and nodded with Naruto's assessment. "It's no wonder why. He's using an earth jutsu to protect him. It's quite similar to the one Iwa's jutsu to try and counter the Yondaime's speed with. But it seems a little different as it flows chakra through it constantly meaning that the jyuken would have a difficult time penetrating it."

Hearing this, Naruto gritted his teeth not liking the sound of that before an idea hit him. "Guys, I have a plan, but I need you to hold him off for minute so I can prepare my newest jutsu."

"What guarantee do you have that it will penetrate his armored skin?" Neji responded as Kakuzu stood up from the crater he landed in from Lee's kick.

Naruto smirk at Neji as he created two Kage Bunshins. "Trust me Neji, this jutsu is unstoppable."

Sakura's eyes widen as finished healing up Chouji and was about to move to Ino when she heard this. "You can't be serious about using that Naruto! The last time you tried to use it Tsunade-sama barely manage to save your arm!"

The others eyes widen hearing this before he shook his head at them. "Do we have a choice? Even Neji says that he can't penetrate this guy's defense. This is the only way."

Each was slightly unnerved by this and didn't want to speak up till Lee did for the simple fact that his entire arsenal was risky. "Alright Naruto-kun my friend! I will give you the time you need or I will run five hundred laps around Konoha on my hands!"

Everyone there including Kakuzu sweat dropped at the statement before Naruto shook his head and smirked. "Thanks Lee. Knew I count on you."

After Lee nodded and turned to face Kakuzu, Neji soon followed him as did Shino and Tenten. Sakura glared at Naruto a bit before she started getting to work on Ino. "Naruto, I swear if you aren't careful I'm going to break your legs so you will stop doing things like this!"

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly at that before shrugging and becoming dead serious as he moved his palm out and began to form a Rasengan while his two clones began rapidly spinning their hands around it.

Lee shot off towards Kakuzu with speeds that few could match as Neji quickly followed him. Kakuzu eyes widen as he tried to counter the green blur, but found it was extremely difficult to do so. Unknown to them, the attacks that landed on him did hurt, it just was harder to do so and Lee was definitely hitting hard enough to make him feel pain. And what was worse was he had to keep up his chakra disruption shield up around him so that Neji's jyuken couldn't attack his eternal organs.

As the two engaged him in Taijutsu, Tenten began to accurately throw kunai and shuriken to give Kakuzu something else to worry about as he had to keep them from hitting his eyes which happened to be the only part of him that didn't harden when he used the Iron Body technique. Shino hadn't moved, but was analyzing the situation in case Naruto's technique didn't work while he had ordered his kikai to try and sever the final mask from him, believing it to be important and possibly why Kakuzu couldn't be damage easily.

Kakuzu gritted his teeth as he continued to dodge and parry the strikes of Lee and Neji while swatting away the pesky kunai and shuriken aimed for his eyes. And he knew something was trying to attack his last outside heart and did not know how to stop it as he couldn't see what it was. And then there was that huge chakra spike he was feeling. Where was it coming from?

Taking a look around as he felt the spike get even higher and the fact that they all had stopped attacking him to figure out what was going on, he looked over towards Naruto to see the two clones he summoned disappear as he held up what seemed to be a giant Rasengan with four points protruding out of it making it look like shuriken. The chakra spike increased by two fold as he held it above his head as the sleeve of his jacket started to be cut by some invisible force.

Kakuzu knew he needed to get out of there. The amount of chakra being poured into the attack was beyond anything he had ever felt before. Sure, he had felt large reserves before, but never had anyone one of them put the amount of chakra Naruto was into this attack.

As he turned around to run, Naruto had sprung from his spot and leapt towards him. Not thinking twice, Neji and Lee ran as fast as they could and grabbed Ino and Chouji as they got the out of the area, not wanting to be caught in the blast. Kakuzu ran while sending every last amount of chakra into his legs, but it still wasn't enough as Naruto was on him and was shoving the attack into him.

_"KAZE RASENSHURIKEN!"_

In the next instant, the ground where Naruto had hit Kakuzu was destroyed as Kakuzu's body was slowly sliced into thousands of pieces. There barely any blood left from him as the cells and atoms were sliced into pieces leaving absolutely nothing left. But Naruto knew the damage wasn't done yet as he fell forward and hit the already ground with it.

A large dust cloud almost equal to the explosion of Deidara covered the area as soon as it hit while stray blades of wind sliced down everything in its path. As the cloud settled down, the remaining members of Niju Shotai began arriving at the scene to see what had happened. The only ones that hadn't arrived were Hinata, Sai, Ibiki, Kotetsu and Izumo.

They all looked through it as the dust began to settle to see Naruto in the middle of the crater, with nothing but a few stains of blood from Kakuzu. But that wasn't what all of them were worrying about as they looked at him. It was the fact that his arms had pieces of it own flesh ripped off down to the bone and his entire arm was covered in blood. Sakura's eyes widen as she quickly rushed over to him as he fell to the ground while biting his lips from screaming in pain.

The silence was so thick that every single silent scream he made was heard while Sakura attempted to patch up his arm.

* * *

A few hours later, everyone that had survived the day had returned. When Hinata and Sai returned with Kakashi's limp body and said that there was nothing left of Kiba, it took the entire task force to keep Naruto down so that he wouldn't chase after Itachi. And the news of Asuma's death had put a damper on everyone's spirits even further as two of their top shinobi and their top tracker were gone.

Ibiki and Kotetsu had returned carrying an unconscious Izumo. When he heard both of their deaths, he told everyone to pack up and they would be leaving in the mourning. When he finally arrive, Naruto along with Sakura due to his condition and Yamato had pulled him aside as he was technically the defacto leader know that Kakashi was gone. Ibiki looked at all three of them before sighing lightly knowing this couldn't be good. "Alright, what else is wrong?"

Naruto winced at this statement before his two clones emerged from the forest, carrying a still unconscious Nibi. Ibiki's eyes widen as he noticed the tails. It took him a full minute to recover before he calmed himself down and spoke. "So I'm guessing you want us to take her with us so the Akatsuki don't come back and find her."

Seeing Naruto and Sakura nod made Ibiki sigh before nodding. "Under two conditions, one, Yamato is around her at all times to restrain her if she becomes violent. Two, when we arrive back at Konoha we will allow Tsunade to decide what to do with her."

Looking over at Nibi, Naruto nodded as it was for the best and already had figured this out. "Alright, I just don't want Akatsuki to get a hold of her. It seems they really did a number on her as well."

Ibiki nodded believing that seeing the state of Nibi before turning around and heading to camp as he needed a good rest as today's events were just too much to handle right now.

* * *

Sasuke sighed deeply as he looked over to Suigetsu's sleeping form before turning back to the fire and poking it with a stick. "So both Juugo and you fought the other Uchiha. And from what you picked up on the Konoha team with your chakra sense, Kakashi-sensei is gone as well."

Karin nodded solemnly as she gazed into the fire with her dull red eyes. Sasuke closed his eyes before throwing the stick into the fire and punching the ground besides him. Karin looked over at him as he pulled his fist out of the ground and sighed. "Karin, get some rest. You need it. I'll be look out tonight."

She looked up at him for a second before nodding lightly and crawling into her sleeping bag. Within moments she was asleep as Sasuke had used a minor genjutsu to put her asleep. He sighed deeply before standing up and walking towards where the battle field was and looked upon it with some sorrow in his eyes before he went through a few seals and breathed deeply and exhaled a large fireball, consuming Manda's lifeless body.

Looking upon the flames, Sasuke had only one thought on his mind. He was going to kill Itachi, not only for his clan, but now for his team. He had made it personal for the last time.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm updating this sooner than I anticipated, but blame it on the current events in the manga. There will be an Adult Fan Fiction version of this fic later on as there are a few lemons I plan for it, but I'm not putting them on here, so sorry for all those who wish to read them. I now just noticed that my entire summary didn't fit in the space allotted to me, so the pairing didn't show. The pairing is Naruto/Nibi for all those that didn't look it up on my profile. There is a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter on what the future holds. I do have to thank Kishimoto for showing me what he has of lately, as it will help for this fics future. Though he still on my black list for what he did...

This chapters is 2000 words shorter than I wanted it, but the next chapter is going to make up for that.

I Do Not Own Naruto.

* * *

The air was thick with sadness as the next mourning arrived too fast for the remaining members of the Niju Shotai as the packed up to leave. There was almost absolute silence except the mourning animals at the shuffle of people waking and packing up. Once everyone was ready to go, Naruto's clones picked up Kakashi's casket as Chouji and Lee had done the same for Asuma's. In normal situations their bodies would have been put to rest there, but this was far from a normal situation and none of the younger member of the group were going to allow them anything less than a hero's burial back at Konoha.

As Ibiki looked over them, he noticed that Naruto, Sakura and Yamato weren't there and instantly knew where they were. He knew the reason why they weren't going to be traveling with the main group as the presence of a bijuu would unnerve everyone greatly, especially after everything that had already happened. Still, he didn't like the idea of leaving two of Akatsuki's targets with only two guards. So he would have to send more to their position so that nothing would happen since Naruto wasn't in the best of shape to defend himself and the cat bijuu definitely couldn't defend herself as she was out cold.

Shaking his head, he looked over the group as he decided who would be best to send that would get freaked out by seeing the nekomata. He knew Shikamaru and Shino already knew, so they were in, but he needed at least two more. His eyes landed on Lee, but since he volunteered to help carry Asuma, he wasn't going to ask him to drop it to guard Naruto. He skimmed over Izumo and Kotetsu as neither of them were in the best conditions and probably were hurting on the inside as well as both Kakashi and Asuma were good friends to them.

Continuing his search, he glanced over a few other members before his eyes landed on Tenten. He knew she most likely wouldn't freak out too horribly and that she was one of the few that wouldn't care about Naruto's secret, as her father had raised her to accept anyone no matter what. He knew Ino was too depressed to do anything at the moment so she was out. Sai didn't show anything, but both the deaths of Kakashi and Kiba had shocked him to the core so he knew he might not handle seeing the bijuu very well. And there was the factor of him still being loyal to Roots and him telling Danzo about this and he knew the old war horse just might do something stupid to earn Konoha the wrath of a second bijuu in fifteen years.

Shaking that thought from his head, he looked over the rest. Neji was capable and he knew that he held Naruto and high esteem and was also close to figuring out that Naruto was the jinchuuriki for Kyuubi. Hinata was like Ino as she was far too distressed to be of any good. But he pitied the girl as she witnessed Kakashi dying before watching her teammate and close friend die protecting her. Of course he could go, but he was the defacto leader at moment so he needed to stay with the main group.

So making up his mind, he called Neji, Shikamaru, Shino and Tenten to the front. Tenten looked at Ibiki, wondering why he had called her up as Neji, Shikamaru and Shino had a pretty good guess on what was going on as they also noticed that Naruto, Sakura and Yamato weren't there. Looking all four of them, Ibiki sighed slightly before taking them off to the side and turning to them. "Alright, as you have probably guessed, I want you three to head over to Naruto, Sakura and Yamato's position and go along with them."

Tenten blinked in confusion as she heard this. She knew splitting up the group was unwise seeing what had happen to them yesterday. But if they were, why was Naruto apart of the smaller, split group. His severely injured arm should have him based with the large, more protected group as he couldn't do much. With these questions plaguing her mind, she had to ask him. "Um excuse me, but why exactly are we splitting up? It would be better to stay as one."

Ibiki sighed knowing that one of them would as this, shook his head before answering her. "Because as of late yesterday, something of extreme importance was found for the Akatsuki that they left behind. Normally we would take it with us with the group whole, but because of yesterday's events and the events in the past long before today, it would be unwise to do so. That's why we have to split the group into two so we can deliver it to Konoha safely without the others knowing and possibly compromising the package."

Both Shikamaru and Shino instantly knew what Ibiki was talking about as they had already knew about Nibi while even Neji raised his eyebrow at this, wondering what the package could be. Tenten nodded lightly in understanding at this part as if it was something that was important that the others didn't need to know about, and then she was all for splitting the group. But she still had another question that needed to be answered. "That makes sense, but why is Naruto there? His arm is too badly damage for him to do any good."

Sighing once more, wanting to get this over with as quick as possible so they could get back to Konoha by sunset, Ibiki quickly answered her. "The reason is Naruto found the package and let's just say it would be best for him to stay with it as both he and Yamato are the only ones capable of calming it down if the package becomes hostile."

Tenten's face fell hearing this as she tried to figure out what exactly did he find as Neji began to slowly realize what it was. "It can't be..."

"It is, but we'll discuss this later when others aren't listening in." Shino cut him off, knowing what he was about to say as some of the others curiously looked over at them. Nodding in agreement, Neji quickly activated his Byukugan before locating them and leading the way for the others.

Naruto sighed lightly Sakura continued to check his arm. He knew she was just trying to help, but both of them knew there was nothing else she could do. Shaking his head, he looked down at her. "Sakura-chan, there is nothing else you can do. Let's just get back home so Tsunade can look it over and..." He turned his head and bit his lip as he kept down the anger and sorrow bubbling in his stomach as he thought about Kakashi, Kiba and Asuma.

Sakura looked up at him as stopped checking over his arm and noticed the look on Naruto's face before sighing as well. She knew it was against the code of the ninja to show emotions, but it was also the most disputed among the code as shinobi were human and had feelings and emotions. And losing Kakashi was a blow that was hard to take and both were doing their best to hide their emotions from the others.

Over the years, Kakashi had become a father figure for both of them seeing that neither had fathers. He would stop in from time to time and check up on them and even gave her some training advice and some food for Naruto, though she didn't understand why at the time. Sure, he did seem to favor Sasuke from time to time, but he cared for them equally and was trying to keep Sasuke from leaving in search for his brother. And he even tried to make up for his favoritism before and after Sasuke left.

Sighing softly, she released his arm and nodded in understanding. "I know Naruto; I just want to make sure."

Yamato turned his head away from the scene, knowing exactly what they were feeling but there wasn't anything he could do to help. They had to find their own way to cope with it. Sure, if they came to him he would do what he could, but it was ultimately up to them to choice how they would cope with it. Shaking his head, he turned to the sleeping Nibi as she slumped up against the tree. He honestly couldn't say what was going to happen when they reached Konoha. He doubted that Tsunade would want to keep her as she was a bijuu and Konoha's luck with bijuu wasn't very good. But then again if they released her, Akatsuki could end up catching her and sealing her away.

His gaze turned to the right as the four assigned to join them jumped through the trees and landed in the clearing. Both Naruto and Sakura jumped in surprise, but slowly relaxed as they saw who it was. They knew they wouldn't be allowed to move out on their own seeing as some of the Akatsuki could still be around and a knocked out/sleeping bijuu and an injured jinchuuriki was easy pickings for them. Shaking that thought off, Naruto slowly stood up with Sakura as they looked around.

Neji and Tenten's gaze landed on Nibi seeing as they hadn't seen her before. Both of their eyes widened for a second before they recovered instantly understanding why Ibiki didn't want the others to know about this, especially after Kyuubi attacking fifteen years ago. But once again that raised the question in Tenten's mind on why Naruto was there. Yamato noticing this look, decided to stall her questioning for a little while. "Good, now that you are here I guess we are leaving then. Naruto, you think you can get her on your own?"

Naruto nodded lightly he created a Kage Bunshin with one arm and lifted Nibi onto his shoulder. Tenten was about to ask why couldn't one of them carry her when Yamato and Sakura shot her a glare that told her to keep quiet. Not wanting to disobey direct order from her superior, she did so as Neji took the back as Shino took the front with Yamato and Naruto in the middle and the group headed out while making sure to keep a moderate distance from the main group so they wouldn't cross paths.

* * *

Sasuke sighed deeply as he finished with his breakfast and started to put up for the camp. Suigetsu would be back to a hundred percent in a few days as his fluidity gave him the ability to regenerate once he had enough water to do so. He could tell Karin was okay as well, but knew something had spooked her enough that she was having a hard time looking at him. He was guessing that it had something to do with the other Uchiha and knowing the secret of the Mangekyou thanks to a certain snake.

He mentally growled at the thought that the bastard had attempted on several occasion to have someone become his friend then turn around and tried to kill him forcing him to kill them and gain the Mangekyou. And he knew as she had told him that she was the next one that Orochimaru was going to try to use in order for Sasuke to gain it. Shaking that thought off, he looked over as Karin helped Suigetsu up. Turning away from them, he thought about his next move.

They had failed to run into Itachi and had lost Juugo in the process. As bad as that was Suigetsu was down for now leaving only both Karin and himself combat ready. Then add on that Karin could no longer sense any of the Akatsuki members meaning that they were outside of her considerable range. The group from Konoha was still their and that was a problem on its own as they would attempt to bring him back. It wasn't hat he didn't want to return home, he just couldn't go back until he had done what he set out to do.

"Karin, how far are the Konoha shinobi from us?" Sasuke asked as he crossed his hands and brought them to his chin.

Screwing up her face in concentration as she gave Suigetsu a crutch to use, she located them before answering him. "It seems they have split up into two groups that are heading for Konoha so they are going farther away from us. The one with dual chakra from Konoha is in the smaller group, but his chakra signature is a little chaotic so he must be injured. And there is something else, a large chakra that feels greater than anything I've sense before. It's not extremely large, but the power around it is amazing. If I didn't know any better I would believe it was an unsealed bijuu."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a brief second at this before he quickly covered it up with a scowl. "I see. Continue to watch them and see if the change course. I don't want them to sneak up on us." Karin nodded lightly in understanding as being surrounded by them was the last thing the needed right now. Seeing this, Sasuke put out the fire before turning back to them. "We'll be heading to Nami to see if we can pick up any clues on where they went."

With that said he turned back around and lead the way at a slightly slower pace to make sure Suigetsu could keep up.

* * *

Black was all she saw. Lights began appear in the dark blackness that resembled stars as she looked around her, trying to figure out what was going on. See didn't understand as she never had a dream like this before. She didn't mind it, but she knew this was something important as her dreams always meant something or were glimpse at the future. Taking a careful look around her, she noticed that she was in space, but why would she be here?

As she thought that, she noticed the Earth in front of her looking like it normally did. Well as normal as it would as she never had seen it from space before. Not understanding what she was seeing, she looked around before her eyes snapped back to the planet as it slowly began to be engulfed in shadows. Looking at it in shock, she tried to figure out what was going on and looked around to see if something was coming that blocked out the sun, but saw nothing.

Just as she turned back to the earth, the image suddenly changed and she was on what seemed to be a battle field between four men. Two with crimson eyes, one with gray spiraling eyes and the final with deep blue eyes. She couldn't understand what they were fighting for, but it was slightly fascinating to watch as she had never seen fights like this before. Even her fights weren't this competitive as either she stomped her opponent flat or was completely out matched.

But before she could ponder on it more the scene shifted to where she was in a small room with a bed, a small kitchen, a desk, some plants and a door for a bathroom. But she didn't notice most of this as her focus was on the bed as she saw herself in her hanyou glory making love with the same blonde haired teen from her dream and the one with the death seal that was looking after her at the moment. Not understanding why she would be doing this, she slowly pealed her eyes off to look around for clues around the room.

But she wasn't able to as the scene shifted again. She found herself looking on at the blonde with her behind him with a crowd of people as they looked on what seemed to be a village. She looked around, trying to understand what was going on as they had to be mad to attack a village with the amount they had when the blonde spoke.

"Today the world changes, one way or another. Let us hope it is in our favor."

She blinked in confusion as she tried to understand what this meant when the scenery around her changed once more. This time it was dark, but not because she was in space, but because clouds were covering up the sun as black flames littered the ground like a battle field. Once again the blonde was in front of her along with someone she couldn't quite make out, but growled loudly as she noticed his black cloak with red clouds and his odd looking red eyes.

As she growled, she noticed the two begin to fight in what seemed to be an even match as the shadowed one's power counter the blonde boy's speed. It seemed to be a draw as neither could overcome the other. That's when the blonde haired boy summoned five clones of himself and created an attack of massive power that felt unreal, stronger than anything she had ever felt before. The power coming from it alone made her shiver as it rivaled Kyuubi's. Then the blonde struck the shadowed one with it creating a dust cloud so large it had to be visible from at least a hundred miles. Looking around as the dust cloud started to fade, she saw the blonde standing and panting heavily, signifying he had one.

"It seems my will is stronger."

Suddenly an ethereal light pierced his chest, right where his heart was. Her eyes widened in shock not believing what she seen as the blonde boy melted into the sword as the light around her become darker than anything she had seen before. She found herself back in space looking at the planet once more. Looking around, she noticed the planet turn red as it began to crack and crumble within itself before exploding into molten rocks floating into space.

All this was too much for her to take as she blacked out.

* * *

Naruto sighed lightly as he looked around the forest as he ignored the look Tenten was giving him. He knew it wasn't anything harmful, it was just that she wanted to know what was going on and he didn't want to tell her. Plus it didn't help that it seemed that Neji was slowly piecing everything together and would soon figure it out. He was slightly glad that Shikamaru, Shino and Sakura were there to help, but he still wasn't sure that everyone would so readily accept him for being its container.

Shaking his head, he sighed as Nibi restlessly shuffled against his shoulder once more making him adjust to her again. He wondered what she was dreaming about that would make her so restless as it was getting annoying that he had to readjust ever few minutes. It wasn't that he minded it; it was just that his shoulder was getting tired from her shifting.

Tenten knowing she wasn't going to get answers from Naruto and Yamato any time soon, decided that she would ask Sakura as she seemed like she knew as well and she could convince her to tell her. Walking up besides her, Tenten smiled lightly as Sakura refrained from sighing and rolling her eyes, knowing what she wanted already. Keeping it from showing in her voice, she turned to Tenten. "If you want to know about why Naruto is here, you will have to ask him as I will not tell you."

Pouting slightly as she was read so easily, Tenten turned serious as she knew she shouldn't be acting like this especially since they lost a few of their own. It wasn't that she didn't feel anything from their passing, it was just that she didn't want to so what she really felt and could hide her true feeling quite well. Otherwise she would have screamed at Gai and Lee to stop hugging as it made them look gay. Plus the genjutsu was way too freaky for her. Shaking that thought off, she turned to Sakura. "And why exactly can't you tell me? I've seen both you and Ino gossip about things no one really wants told about them before, so why not now?

Sakura growled at this as she was practically through with doing that now, even if she did it occasionally with Ino as they were friends once more. Taking a few breathes to calm herself down and to keep from flattening Tenten to the ground with her super strength, she turned to her. "I use to do that, Tenten. I rarely do it now. And I cannot for one good reason. It is a S-rank felony for me to speak of it without his permission."

Tenten's eyes widened hearing this as she took a step back in shock. Whatever Naruto was hiding was big if it there was a law forbidding people to talk about it. Now she wanted to know more than ever as it was eating away at her brain. Watching with his Byukugan, Neji narrowed his eyes as that little tidbit of information threw his thought process in a different direction. He had been thinking on something around a bloodline that gave him two chakra reserves and the ability to repress the bijuu's chakra so that he could take them down as he did beat Gaara, he just didn't know how. But now, he wasn't as sure as that wouldn't be a S-rank secret. Just like Tenten, it was eating away at his brain and he had to solve it.

But he didn't have much time to think as he noticed something moving far too quickly to be an animal. Trying to figure out what it was, he tried to focus on it, but it was just moving to fast for him to see it. He cursed himself out for letting it slip past him so easily as he called out to the others. "We have incoming shinobi from the right!"

Shino having just discovered the presence as well nodded in agreement as his kikai swarmed madly around him. Yamato quickly got ready for anything as Sakura, Tenten and Shikamaru got ready for battle. Naruto attempted to put Nibi down when Shikamaru caught him a Kage Mane. "Naruto, you need to keep her safe. If this turns out to be an Akatsuki member we might have you flee so they don't capture b... her."

Naruto growled lightly as he didn't like it, but nodded in understanding. Shikamaru nodded and let him go as he prepared for battle once more when some burst from the tree line and landed in front of them. Yamato's eyes widened in recognition as Naruto growled loudly as Sakura's fist balled tightly seeing Kakashi's killer, Uchiha Itachi.

The said Uchiha looked at both of them and smirked at their anger as he looked at the rest of them before noticing Nibi on Naruto's shoulders. Nodding lightly to himself seeing this he smirked as he noticed Naruto and Sakura's chakra flare as they restrained themselves from pouncing him and weren't doing to well as Shikamaru was holding them back with his Kage Mane. "Ah, Nibi no Nekomata and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. What a surprise? Didn't think I would run into both of you."

All the blood left Naruto's face as he heard this before his anger came back two fold as Kyuubi's chakra began to flow into his system as his eyes bled red. Both Tenten and Neji's eyes widened as they heard this and both of their eyes landed on in shock as they instantly put together everything they knew and came to the correct conclusion. Itachi smirked seeing this as he looked directly at Naruto. "Oh, you haven't told them. That's interesting and surprising. I thought you will tell them before they figured it out because of us coming after you."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at this as he began to struggle to hold Naruto and Sakura back while he stretched a shadow towards Itachi from behind him. The said Uchiha noticed it instantly before shaking his head. "Go ahead and capture me if you like as I am a clone sent her to warn Naruto." All of their eyes widened hearing this as Naruto's gaze turned to his former target. "I'm no longer in charge of capturing you, so even if I could at the moment, I will not. Our leader has assigned himself the honor of capturing you. One word of advice Naruto, you will need to train if you want to stand a chance."

With that said, Itachi's clone disappeared in a plum of smoke indicating he really was a clone. Neji used his Byukugan to search around to see if the real Itachi was anywhere nearby, but to no avail. "It's all clear."

Hearing this, Yamato sighed lightly as he looked over at Naruto as his head drooped as both Neji and Tenten turn to him. He knew this would happen sooner or later, but just like Naruto he was hoping that Naruto was the one that had to explain it to them. Sighing he shook his head as he knew they had to wait now as this could wait no longer.

Naruto sighed deeply as he closed his eyes as both Neji and Tenten looked at him. "I know both of you are wondering if what he is true... It is. I am the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Both could only nod numbly as Sakura, Shikamaru and Yamato joined Naruto in his solemn. Shino did as well, but it was harder to tell with him as he was taught from a young age not to show his emotions on the outside. Naruto bit his lip as he tried to refrain from screaming out at them that he wasn't Kyuubi, but he knew that it wouldn't help at the moment. Neji was the first to step forward as he looked directly at Naruto. "Naruto, I can understand why you didn't want to tell others. And I can understand not wanting to tell us, but you had to realize that he was right. I'm not saying you should have told us earlier, but I think you need to tell the others before the same thing happens."

Tenten nodded in agreement with him as she looked at Naruto and smiled lightly at him in an attempt to show that she didn't care. And she really didn't, she had expected from what her father said that Kyuubi was not killed, but defeated. So that led to her trying to figure out how the Yondaime did it and eventually figured that he sealed it away. Now that she thought about it, it did make sense that he sealed it into a child at the time as Kyuubi's power was just too great to be contained by anything less than a human.

Naruto smiled at both of them as a single tear fell from his cheek and landed onto Nibi. "Thank you... WHOA!"

Without second warning, Nibi jumped off Naruto and landed on all fours before looking around as she tried to figure out what was happening. Of course jumping off Naruto ended up planting him into the ground with her inhuman strength. Sakura quickly rushed over to Naruto and pulled him up as Yamato got ready to restrain her if things turned ugly. The others quickly got on guard and prepared for battle once more as Nibi's golden eyes looked around in confusion as she didn't remember how she got here. All she remembered was that dream and the boy...

Her gaze instantly fell on him. She didn't understand why she was suddenly getting all these visions of him. It didn't make any sense... Unless the God of Death was trying to tell her something. But then why wouldn't he come right out and say it as he did in the past? These visions were getting annoying as she had such a hard time piecing them together and when she finally did they had already passed. But she never had a vision like this before. It was anything beyond she had ever seen before.

Everyone was tense as Nibi's gaze was focused on Naruto and was ready to intervene if she attacked. Seeing this Nibi slowly stood up and looked around at all of them before she looked back at Naruto. "Boy, why am I here?"

Naruto blinked at the question as did the others as they all wondered why she was directly speaking to Naruto and ignoring them. Not expecting her to wake up so soon, he really didn't have an answer for her. "Um... After you revealed yourself to us..."

"Correction, I revealed myself to you. Who are the rest of the ingrates?" Nibi interrupted him. Everyone there twitched at her statement and refrained from strangling/beating her. Nibi smirked at this before scowling as she did not like her situation. She felt weak, much weaker than she should be. Her physical strength was still there, but even some of it had vanished as well. She partially believed the dragons sucked away some of her power and knew it would be a while before she could recover it.

Seeing the rest of his friends twitch as Shikamaru held Sakura back once more to keep her from attempting to deck the nekomata, Naruto quickly decided to intervene. "These are my friends and fellow shinobi. They are assigned to keep both of us from ending up being captured."

Nibi huffed indignity at that. She was fine on her own. She could take care of any of those cretins that... Her eyes narrowed as she remembered the one that caught her punch as if it was nothing. At first he seemed playful and childish in nature and even his aura supported that. But in an instant he changed into something powerful with an aura she never quite experienced before which was saying something as she had dealt with Kyuubi before. Shaking that thought from her head, she looked over at the blonde and smirked lightly. "Boy, you must be weak if you need protection."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as Sakura blinked and stopped struggling against Shikamaru's hold as she looked over to Naruto, having an idea this was about to get ugly. Refraining from his old habit of yelling out at people for calling him weak or useless, he gritted his teeth as his eyes burned brightly. "I am not weak. And if I have to prove it to you, I will."

She narrowed her eyes at this, believing that he would have jumped up and proclaimed that he wasn't weak. But instead he answered her with a statement saying he would willing prove himself to her. And in the condition he was in. Better yet, why was he in that condition. All jinchuuriki had good regeneration rates, none better than Kyuubi's as it seemed their only special ability other than extreme chakra manipulation was high regeneration rates. So that raised the question, anything less than decapitation of said limbs shouldn't be a problem for Kyuubi to heal. "Boy, why isn't your arm healed? With _him_ in you it should have already regenerated."

The way she spat at him, everyone could tell she had some sort of hatred for Kyuubi as well and once again inched closed to Naruto incase she turned violent. She of course noticed this, but wasn't going to do anything as there wasn't anything she could do. Naruto shrugged his shoulders as he truthfully didn't know either as no one told him why his arm was so hard to heal afterwards. Yeah, he knew that he took good chunks out of him but that shouldn't be to hard to heal. Sakura sighed as she rubbed her temple as she refrained from flattening Naruto for not listening to her our Tsunade. "Because he's damaged his arm at the cellular level. Unless we get him to Tsunade-sama soon, his arm will be unhealable and will never be able to use it again. Got it Naruto."

Both of their eyes widened along with the others hearing this. Nibi tilted her head curiously at the injured arm before shaking her head, not even wanting to know what he did to do that kind of damage and was kind of glad that her vessel never did anything that stupid. She quickly shook her head from that thought as she no longer wanted to think about Yugito. Though she disliked her tenant, she still had a slight attachment to her as she was the best one she had so far. "I see. Whatever you did must have been something moronic and unnecessary. Now can you explain to me where exactly are you attempting to take me?"

Yamato seeing that if Naruto answered her question their little conversation would probably escalate to a verbal fight decided to intervene. "Well you see..."

"Did I ask you to explain human? I asked the one marked by death." Nibi interrupted Yamato as her eyes flashed slightly before they turned back to Naruto. Yamato's eyes widened as he heard this as he was one of the few that knew of how the Yondaime sealed Kyuubi away.

The rest looked in confusion as she said this as Naruto instantly understood what she meant as he too knew of the origins of his seal as Jiraiya had practically beat it into his head. Seeing that she wanted him to explain, he decided to do so. "Well, we were taking you to Konoha as that's were we live and to keep you there, hopefully, so Akatsuki can't capture you again and until we can take care of them."

Nibi nodded lightly at this. Not that she was admitting that she needed protection, but she wasn't at full health. And they probably weren't stupid either and knew this as well. So maybe she could go with them for now and recover her strength and then leave once she's done. Plus she really wanted to stop having dreams about this blonde boy as it was the third she had of him. The faster she got away from him the better, but for now she was stuck as she smelled the scent of one of the ones in the cave was here not to long ago. Not that she couldn't beat them one on one, she knew something was wrong with her and she didn't know what. "Fine. But do not expect me to enjoy my time there. Once I'm healed completely, I wish to leave."

Naruto nodded in understanding as this had gone a lot better than he'd thought it would especially with all his encounters with Kyuubi. The others could only nod as well seeing as she was being cooperative, more cooperative than any of them had thought. Yamato could only shake his head as he wondered why exactly she was going this easily, before sighing as he gave out his orders. "Alright then, back into formation. We still have a good distance to travel and we're not out of the woods yet."

Everyone nodded as Shino once again took point and released his kikai as Neji took the back and activated his Byukugan. Nibi raised her eyebrow at seeing this, but then again she had been in Kumo the village without bloodlines so she wasn't too surprised that about them. Though the bug one just creped her out as they were crawling out of his skin and lived inside of him. Shaking her head, she slowly followed them as she walked slightly behind Naruto and looking around as she tried to solve her dream.

* * *

Sasuke sighed for the umpteenth time as they neared Nami. It wasn't because it had taken longer than he had expected as it was a he'd figured they would arrive a few hours past midday. Nor was it Karin constantly bugging him and saying what she was going to do to him tonight. Part of him actually enjoyed her talking about it. But he'd be damned if he said that out loud. He rather admit that Itachi was better then he was and that he should restart the clan.

Shaking that thought off, he turned and glared at the whining Suigetsu. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to shove that sword up your ass and make sure you'll never be able to drink water again."

Suigetsu's eyes widened as he covered his ass with his free hand and nodded hurriedly as he didn't want to piss off the one that had the power to do that. Turning from the now quiet Suigetsu, his gaze turned to Karin for a brief second before turning forward as they continued on. He knew something was wrong with her, but he didn't know what. Maybe the other Uchiha hit her with a genjutsu without her knowing it? Or was she frightened of the power that he displayed? But then again, how come he couldn't sense it? If he was so powerful, he would have noticed it and had left the mad bomber and rushed to take his revenge on him.

But something she said bothered him about him. After ever wound they inflicted upon him, he stood right back up and his wounds healed at an accelerated race. Now he had seen Naruto regenerate from wounds, some of which he inflicted upon him at the Valley of the End, but from what she said, he was recovering from instant death wounds. How was that possible? He doubted even Naruto could survive such wounds yet he was able to. Was there more to the Mangekyou then what his brother had told him?

As he was thinking about that, he noticed Karin stiffen up as she looked around. Sasuke stopped seeing this and turned towards her as Suigetsu sighed in annoyance as he figured she was seeking Sasuke's attention again. Karin continued looking around as she picked up a chakra signature, but it was suppressing itself extremely well and was almost impossible for almost any normal shinobi with above average chakra sensing to pick up. But she was anything but average with her ability and picked it up before her eyes widened seeing how close it was. "Sasuke-sama! He's here!"

Sasuke's turned to where she was looking at to see the very one he was hunting appear in front of him. Clenching his fist tightly and gritting his teeth, he reigned in his emotions as he glared at the raven haired man. "Itachi."

Itachi smirked as he noticed Sasuke as he barely contained himself from screaming out and attacking him as he did two and a half years ago. Seeing his better control and obviously higher chakra reserves, Itachi had to refrain from smirking as it did not fit his image. Only his clones were allowed to do that as they had a harder time controlling their emotions. "Ah, it's you otouto. Just as I suspected. It seems you finally grown up."

Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist even tighter, Sasuke kept his control over himself as he activated his Sharingan and looked his brother dead in the eyes. "Karin, do not intervene. This is my fight. Take Suigetsu and head for Nami. I'll be there shortly myself, after I take care of this."

Karin nodded lightly as she helped Suigetsu limp out of the way as Itachi eyes looked semi-amused as he looked at his younger brother and decided that he would test him and see if he really could test his capacity. Once Karin and Suigetsu were far enough away, Sasuke quickly threw a few shuriken at Itachi, who easily countered it with his own. He easily saw that Sasuke used the shuriken as distractions as he pulled out his chokuto and raced towards. Pulling out a kunai from underneath his sleeve, Itachi parried his strike before turning slightly and heel kicking him in the gut.

Sasuke skidded across the ground before stopping and quickly went through a few seals and breathed in deeply before exhaling several dozen miniature fireball. Itachi quickly copied the seals and matched Sasuke's chakra usage and breathed and exhaled the same amount, countering his brother once more. Sasuke growled as he gripped his chokuto and rushed towards his older brother again. As he reached him, he quickly shifted his feet and jumped to the side as he aimed his blade for Itachi's heart. Itachi quickly spun around and dodged the blade as he gripped Sasuke's wrist, only to take an elbow to his chin.

Jumping back to avoid the blade aimed for his neck, Itachi mentally smirked as he was rather enjoying this and his eyes gleamed for a second as he looked at Sasuke's eyes. Standing straight up again, he awaited for his brother's next move as he did not attack unless it was necessary. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he went through five quick hand seals and the sound of birds chirping was heard as lighting crackled in his right palm. Itachi's eyebrow raised as Sasuke used Chidori again and was ready to counter him once more as Sasuke approached, only to see him grip his chokuto.

_"Chidori Nagashi!"_

Being slightly surprised by this, Itachi spun his Sharingan as he copied how Sasuke manipulated the lighting like that before he was sliced in two. Sasuke smirked as he saw this before jumping back in surprise as Itachi turned into a swarm of ravens and his voice was heard from all around him. "Not bad otouto. My have you grown stronger. If you truly want to face me, go to the secret Uchiha hideout two days from now at sunrise. Till then otouto, keep yourself alive."

The ravens disappeared as Itachi's voice faded away as Sasuke instantly recognized that it was a genjutsu. Gritting his teeth in anger, he slammed his fist against a nearby tree, snapping it in two as his Sharingan spun madly. Remembering what the book that was hidden had written, he remembered the map showing were to find the hideout and smirked slightly. "I'll be there, you can count on that. Then I will take your life for everything you've done."

Shaking his head, Sasuke sheaved his chokuto and walked calmly towards were he felt Karin and Suigetsu's presence and quickly found them sitting under a shaded tree. Karin looked up as she noticed him and sighed. "I don't know where he went nor do I know how he eluded my chakra sense. I'm sorry Sasuke-sama."

"There is no need to apologize Karin. I know where he is going and we are heading there. Now let's go." Sasuke answered her with a slight smile on his face, though he wasn't sure why. Karin smiled lightly as she nodded and helped Suigetsu up as Sasuke slowly headed to his destination. But he couldn't help but think of the outcomes that could happen. Until now, he had not doubted himself that he would kill Itachi, but now that he was finally closing in on his goal, doubts began flooding him. What if he lost? What if they killed each other? What if the other was there as well?

As he thought about it, he knew it could happen; he just never believed it would. But something was odd about his brother when he looked at him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. And whatever it was could possibly be something that could affect the outcome. As he pondered what it was, his gaze turned to Karin as she walked quietly besides them. He didn't know why, but now that she seemed to be quieter, he seemed to notice her and saw that she was actually better looking than anyone else that chased after him. Her figure wasn't too bad and she was a capable shinobi and could raise his child if something were to happen to him.

Karin looked over at Sasuke as she felt his eyes on her and noticed him quickly turning away and a light blush on his cheeks. Blinking in confusion as she tried to figure out what he was blushing at before it dawned on her that he was checking her out. An equal blush to his tinged her cheeks as she looked away and smiled lightly while mentally she was cackling her ass off in glee.

But why was he looking at her now? He hadn't been interested in her before, so why? Was it because she wasn't acting like she had been since she was mourning Juugo's death as he was her favorite prisoner when she was guarding him. If so she'd gladly stay like this while occasionally being herself and attempt to ravish him as she could tell that he enjoyed it, even though he would refuse to admit it. Noticing his face turn serious once more, she knew he was thinking about the upcoming future and sighed as she looked forward while occasionally glancing at him with a slight blush on her face.

From the tree lines, Itachi mentally smirked as he suppressed his chakra so the girl couldn't sense them as he watched them. His lips twitched as he saw this and disappeared in a swirl of ravens as his brother was finally taking this seriously.

* * *

In the hidden village of the Rain, the Raiukage, Hanzo stood in his chamber with his closer supporters as the battle raged outside in the rain. He knew this day would come, but he refused to go down without a fight. For over the last couple of years, the rebellion had been slowly wearing down his ninja down and began to take control of the war. This was due to the new leader of the rebellion, a man known as Pein.

The man had literally turned the favor of the civil war in the rebellion's favor with his excellent tactics and the inability to defeat him. Iwa had stopped aiding them in the civil war when their shinobi claimed the man was the next coming of the Kiroi Senko without the ability to use Hiraishin. That alone had taken Iwa out from helping them any further and had brought his shinobi's spirits down as more and more of them and his former supporters went to join the rebellion.

That was why he called in his closes supports so they could make one last stand as the rebellion troops began to take control of the streets. He knew they weren't going to win, but he knew each of them wished for things to stay the same and they were like him as they weren't going to go down without a fight. The sound of foot steps outside alerted them all to someone's presence outside of the room and each of them prepared for battle when the foot steps stopped outside the door as they heard a crack, indicating their guards were fighting for them.

The door flew open as another crack was heard as a man with auburn colored hair and gray spiraled eyes walked through the opened entrance. Everyone narrowed their eyes insulted that one man was going to take all of them on. His eyes searched the room as the rain outside increased to a downpour and a small smirk graced his lips as he looked directly at Hanzo, who narrowed his eyes recognizing the man from the descriptions and knew this was the rebellion leader, Pein. "Glad all of you are here, makes my job easier."

Soon as he spoke, the others riddled him with kunai, shuriken and senbon. They all smirked as they saw him fall to the ground, lifeless before their eyes widened in horror as the image changed to one of the guards that was guarding the entrance to the chamber. Suddenly one of the supporters was lifted into the air and his neck snapped as if he was hung. The others jumped back in surprise as they tried to figure out what was going on when splattered as two projectile fists flew through two of them before returning to where they came from, outside of the room.

All the supporters closed in a tight circle around Hanzo as they tried to figure out what was going on. Suddenly another was thrown into the air as his neck snapped. The others littered everything around the dead man with weapons when a creature began to bleed. Their eyes widened as they realized it was a summon when a large multi headed dog crashed through the room and ripped two of the men's heads as it the other bit down onto Hanzo's arm. He quickly put his fist through the dog's head making the other head's howl in pain.

Hearing two more screams of pain from his final two supporters, he turned around to see one without his head cut off by a crustacean as an arm blasted through the others chest. His eyes widened as he saw this and prepared to summon when the same auburn haired man walked through the door walked through it once more, but this time it was him. "It is pointless to continue on. I have won this battle."

Hanzo narrowed his eyes as he heard this, but saw the summons stop attacking as if he willed them too. Keeping his eyes firmly on him while making sure his summons didn't attack him, he answered him. "I may have lost this battle, but I will not give Ame to you without a fight. I have successfully led this…"

"More liked ruined it. War is pointless. The only reason I entered this war was to prove that to you. Since you will not stand aside, I will send you to the next life, with your family." Pein interrupted him as he moved forward as his summons closed in on Hanzo.

Hearing that his family was dead, all the blood left Hanzo as it meant his wife, his children and even grand children were gone. "You cold hearted bastard! I will..."

His statement stopped as a blade pierced his chest from behind, straight through his heart. Hanzo widened as he coughed blood into his mask as he slowly turned around, to see another auburn haired man with spiraled gray eyes and long hair that flowed down to his waist. Hanzo's eyes widened in realization at what this meant, but his eyes slowly closed as he passed on. Pein smirked as his other self pulled the blade out of him as Hanzo's body fell limply to the ground as his other summoned bodies began to report that the war was finally was over. Nodding at his other body, he closed his eyes as he sat down at the blood covered chair and closed his eyes and used his mind to speak to his subordinates.

_"Akatsuki report!"_

Suddenly six astral projections appeared in the room and noticed the bloody surrounding. Konan seeing this had a slight smile seeing this before turning to Pein. "I see it is finally over."

Pein nodded as his eyes opened and looked over all of the Akatsuki member's and noticed that Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu were missing and could not sense their presence any longer. "Yes, and it seems we have lost three members. So Zetsu, I would like you to go and retrieve their rings if possible. Everyone else, report to Ame on the double."

Everyone except Itachi nodded their head when he interrupted. "Sorry taishou, but I have more important business to attend to. Kisame, I need you to keep my otouto's teammates from interfering."

Narrowing his eyes hearing this and seeing Kisame nod, Pein glared at Itachi. As he was about to call Kisame off when he noticed the look Tobi was giving him and knew instantly to back down. Growling mentally at this, Pein would have to allow this. "Fine, but once you are done you are to report here."

Itachi nodded along with Kisame as their images disappeared as the others did as well except for Tobi's. Pein sighed as he saw this and knew he had something to say. Just as he predicted, Tobi spoke. "Pein, I'm going to. There is a possibility that Kyuubi's jinchuuriki will hear of this and will try to catch Sasuke. Do not forget there is a spy among us and is reporting this to your former sensei, so root them out if you can as I doubt it was Hidan or Kakuzu. Deidara maybe, but I doubt it. Now I must leave."

Pein nodded in agreement as he looked at Tobi. "I will, Madara-sama."

* * *

Yamato sighed as it had taken longer than they expected, but they were finally home as the main gates and wall of Konoha could be seen from the distance. They had to wait for a while so the main group went in front of them as they didn't want them to learn of Nibi. But the problem was keeping the villagers that were up from learning that she was a bijuu and possible riot could start and he knew Naruto would end up being brought into it. So that raised the question on how to hide her. Searching through his things, he pulled out a cloak and offered it to her.

Nibi didn't want to wear it at first as she was spectacle at first, but it was better than the orange and black jump suit she was wearing so she took it and put it on. It covered the cat ears on her head pretty well, but her tails were a different story. Sakura suggested genjutsu, but was thrown out as every genjutsu they tried to cover her tails failed. Of course Naruto came up with the most simplistic, yet best plan out of all of them to wrap her tails around her waist. Everyone refrained from sweat dropping as it worked and shook their head knowing that they would over look the simplest solution to a problem.

Once they had her hidden well enough to pass for human, they walked up to the gate and the guards stopped them. "Halt. Hello, Yamato-san, you all can go in. But I need papers from this one." The guard pointed at Nibi's cloaked form.

Cursing lightly as he knew they weren't going to allow her to enter that easily and knew he couldn't forge papers for her. As he was trying to come up with an explanation to why she didn't have papers, Ibiki walked up as he was waiting for them. "Ah, you're here. Don't worry about her; she's the package they were bringing in. So she doesn't have papers."

The guard nodded as Ibiki told them of this and let them through. Standing besides Naruto, Nibi walked towards the tower as they followed Yamato and Ibiki right after he dismissed everyone but Sakura as she wouldn't leave. There was barely anyone out as it was the middle of the night, but the few that were out glared heatedly at Naruto. She wondered about this as she tried to figure out what he had done to earn their hatred on such a level. Sure, it was known that most jinchuuriki didn't have good lives, but the passion of hate being direct at Naruto by those out was absurd. It was like he was a murder that got off free even though everyone knew he did it.

That she couldn't understand. From what little she gathered from them and from their precautions, she knew that Kyuubi had to have attacked Konoha, which didn't make sense as why would he attack a hidden village without reason. She didn't like Kyuubi, but knew him well enough that he wouldn't do something with a reason, except when he was awakened unexpectedly. And she knew Kyuubi wasn't asleep as he was too busy trying to find Hachimata to end the snakes life for awaking him in the first place. So then why did he attack unless they were harboring Hachimata, which was doubtful as the snake hated humans with a passion?

As she was thinking about this, they had reached the tower and slowly began to climb the stairs on their ascent upwards. Seeing this, she put that aside for further thought later as they reached a door.

* * *

Tsunade sighed lightly as she looked over the final paper on her desk and signed it gleefully as all the paperwork was finally finished. Putting it in the finished stack besides her desk, which was five feet tall, she pulled open her large drawer and pulled out a sake bottle and popped the lid and was about to take a sip when she flicked the cork behind her and heard a small 'Ouf' from behind her. "What now Jiraiya? I finally finished my paperwork and want some peace and quiet. So make this quick."

Rubbing his forehead, Jiraiya could only sigh as he jumped through the window and leaned against the wall. "Tsunade, this is going to take a little while. It's about Akatsuki and it seems the Niju Shotai have returned as well, much earlier than planned." Tsunade groaned at this as she set her bottle down knowing it was going to be a while before she could drink. Seeing this, Jiraiya quickly started. "Well, to start off. Hanzo is dead."

Her eyes widened in hearing that the man that better Jiraiya, Orochimaru and herself all those years ago had finally died. "How?"

Jiraiya sighed lightly as he leaned further against the wall and shook his head. "That's where Akatsuki comes in. My spy network has just informed me that the leader of Akatsuki killed him, his family and all his supporters single handily and has taken over Amegakure and will now be using it as the headquarters for their operations." Tsunade groaned once more as she leaned back in her chair as Jiraiya continued. "It seems the leader is known as Pein and has called off Itachi from catching Naruto and has placed himself as the one to catch Naruto. It also seems that the two Uchiha will be meeting at a secret hideout to finally settle their dispute."

Groaning again, Tsunade refrained from breaking her desk in two hearing this. Itachi was bad enough, but know the leader, who had bettered the man that bettered the sannin together, was going to be chasing Naruto now. How could things get any worse? Unfortunately Jiraiya wasn't finished. "Seeing what he's done, I'm going to Amegakure to learn more about him and see if I can't capture one of their members as well."

"Jiraiya, you can't be serious! This guy is obviously stronger than either of us had predicted and if they find you..."

"Tsunade I know, but I haven't been laying around this entire time not getting better. And yes I am dead serious. I need more information on this guy as my network isn't able to do much more than tell me his name and some of his looks. I cannot allow Naruto to face this man that's being hailed as a god and a second coming of Minato without more to go on him. Even if I have to die to get this information to him, he needs to know what he's up against." Jiraiya interrupted her as he knew what she was going to say.

Tsunade sighed once more and rubbed her temple heavily before glaring at her teammate, wanting to beat the hell out of him for this. "Fine, I'll give you a S-rank mission to discover more about this 'Pein'. But you are to stay away from fighting unless it becomes necessary to survive. And if you can, try to capture one of the Akatsuki. If not, return home immediately after you are finished."

Jiraiya smirked and nodded at her as he stood up from the wall. "No problem Tsunade. Consider it done."

Soon as he was about to leap out of the window, a knock came from the door and he decided to stay in case if it was some of the Niju Shotai and see if he could learn more before heading out. After Tsunade beckoned them in, Yamato, Ibiki, Naruto, Sakura and a cloak person walked into the room. Both Jiraiya and Tsunade's eyes landed on the cloak stranger as they didn't know who it was. Clearing her throat, Tsunade turned to Ibiki, absently wondering where Kakashi was. "Alright, why are you back so soon and who is this? And Naruto, what is wrong with your arm?"

Ibiki sighed lightly as he took a deep breath as he looked at the Gondaime Hokage. "We'll talk about her later as I have news to bring. We had been following Kakuzu and we found an Akatsuki base at the border between here and the Lighting Country during an extraction." Both Jiraiya and Tsunade winced at this as Ibiki continued on. "We quickly brought down the seal and stormed the cave as they evacuated. The jinchuuriki was declared dead before we chased after them as they split up."

Taking another breath and sighing lightly, he looked down before at Tsunade and Jiraiya. "During the attempt to eliminate or capture a few of their members, we lost Hatake Kakashi and Inuzaku Kiba to Uchiha Itachi and lost Sarutobi Asuma to Hidan and Kakuzu." Everyone's face fell at this and Naruto and Sakura closed their eyes, not wanting to show their sorrow. Nibi sensed this as she looked over at both Naruto and Sakura and knew that the first one was someone important to them as Ibiki continued. "The only good news is that we've eliminated both Hidan and Kakuzu. It also seems the one that capture Gaara was killed by an unknown shinobi, possibly Uchiha Sasuke as Shino reported the smell of snakes in the area."

The blood drained from both Naruto and Sakura's face as they heard Sasuke was possibly in the area and they didn't run into him. Both silently vowed that they were going to talk to Shino about not telling them that. Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her temple hearing this as Jiraiya stared at the wall blankly. "Alright. I'll inform Kiba and Asuma's immediate family of this. As for Kakashi, I'll inform both of you when the funeral is." The last part she said looking straight at both Naruto and Sakura who numbly nodded before she continued. "Now, please tell me what is wrong with your arm Naruto."

Naruto bit his lip hearing this as he knew he was about to become a pancake, after she was done healing him. Sighing slightly and noticing Sakura glaring at him with a look saying 'I'm not tell her', he sighed again before looking at her with a sheepish grin. "Well... You see... I kind of used it again..."

As she heard this, her mood instantly switched from saddened to pissed and everyone in the room felt the heat grow as her chakra spiked while she glared at Naruto. The said blonde began to back up in fear from the killing intent rolling off Tsunade in waves as everyone moved out of the way to give her a clear target. "YOU DID WHAT?! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NEVER TO USE THAT AGAIN FOR ANY REASON AND I WOULD BREAK YOUR LEGS IF YOU DID!"

Nibi was slightly impressed at Tsunade's reaction, but she could also tell that there was the hint of worry within it, which explained such an extreme action as she stomped over to a cowering Naruto, afraid for his life. Shaking her head, she watched the events unfold with an amused expression on her face.

Tsunade growled as she stepped besides Naruto and refrained from beating the hell out of him right there as she grabbed him and seated him in the chair as she pulled off the bandages and noticed the damaged and saw some of it had been slightly healed before and instantly knew Sakura did most of it other than the regeneration of flesh, which probably was Kyuubi. Her hands glowed a bright green as she concentrated heavily as she slowly began to patch his arm together while carefully fixing the damaged cells.

A few minutes later and a few dozen curses at Naruto as she patched up his arm, Tsunade had healed it to the best of her ability as she wrapped it back up knowing that Kyuubi could do the rest now. As she finished wrapping his arm up, she brought her fist down into his skull and sent him into the floor, shaking the entire tower from the force of the blow. The others just shook their heads at this as Nibi looked halfway surprised that she had that kind of strength and wondered how she came about it as it was similar to her own, except she could tell she used chakra to enhance hers and she needed no such thing.

Walking behind her desk and sitting back into her chair, Tsunade turned to Ibiki and motion at Nibi while she ignored Naruto's groaning. "Alright, now that is done with, who exactly is she?"

Seeing that she was now the target of discussion, Nibi decided she rather introducer herself before anyone else did as she flipped the cloak's hood off her head, revealing her two cat ears. "My name is Nibi no Nekomata, the two tailed hell cat."

Tsunade's eyes widened in shock as Jiraiya took a step back from hearing this and quickly prepared themselves for battle, even though the logical part of their brains were telling them if she meant harm she wouldn't have calm here in disguise. As they slowly calmed themselves down from their shock, Sakura spoke up. "When we were in the cave, after everyone left to chase the Akatsuki, Naruto stayed behind to mourn the girl's death when she came out from the shadows before passing out. Both Naruto and Shikamaru agreed that it would be best to take her so they didn't come back and seal her away. After everyone got back together, we informed Ibiki and he agreed with us and left the final decision what to do with her to you."

Nodding in understanding while Nibi narrowed her eyes at that part as they had left it out. "Thank you Sakura. Can you all please leave for a few moments? I'll call you back in once I'm done."

Everyone nodded as Sakura dragged Naruto out of the room and shut the door. Activating a privacy just before she turned towards to the Nekomata and continued on as she had a few questions she needed answered. "Why exactly did you reveal yourself to them?" Nibi looked at Tsunade as she wondered why she wanted to know. As if seeing her question going unanswered and Nibi's wondering face, she sighed before rubbing her temple. "If I'm going to decide what to do with you, I need a few question answered."

Hearing this, Nibi understood the reason she being asked and looked at the Gondaime before answering her first question. "I revealed myself to the boy with the death seal on him. Only him."

Tsunade mentally nodded at Nibi's question though she wondered how she could tell what kind of seal was without even seeing it. Shaking that thought off for now, she looked at the nekomata. "That answers one part of it, but why did you reveal yourself to him?"

Nibi growled lightly as she didn't want to answer that question and had purposely didn't answer it. Seeing Tsunade staring at her made her growl at her. "I didn't answer it for a reason because it's personal."

Narrowing her eyes at this, Tsunade looked at Nibi as she crossed her fingers and put her elbows on her desk before placing her chin on her hands. "Unfortunately you have to answer otherwise I will let you go on your own as I can sense you are drained."

Growling at the blonde Hokage, Nibi knew that she wouldn't last long outside as they would find her again and probably capture her if they came after her again, especially the masked one. So she decided to tell her, but omit some of it. "Fine. I've been having cryptic visions in my dreams of him recently that come from the God of Death. I do not understand what they mean, so do not try to ask, as I will not tell you."

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow at this from his spot as Tsunade nodded lightly in understanding. Thinking before looking back at the nekomata, Tsunade asked another question. "What is my guarantee you will not harm anyone from this village?"

Scoffing at the question, Nibi rolled her eyes. "I will not harm anyone if they do not do anything to me first. If they do, I will harm them."

Figuring that answer, Tsunade nodded once more as she had a few more that needed to be answered. "That's fine. If you were to stay here but we determined that you had to do be of some use, what could you do to provide for the village?"

Nibi looked slightly surprised at this before a small smirk graced her lips as she looked at them. "Well for one, I can teach you and that pink haired girl to control and increase your strength even further. And another I can talk to the dead souls unlike those fake mediums as my lord the God of Death gave me that ability. And finally, I have millenniums of knowledge so I have more experience than any of you do. That is all I will give you as I don't plan on being here for long. Only till this group is eliminated so I can go free."

Knowing that already, Tsunade could only nod as Jiraiya's eyes widened. He did not want Tsunade's freakish strength to get any higher as one punch could send him flying for miles and he knew Naruto didn't need Sakura to be stronger as he had a similar kind of relationship as he did with Tsunade. And the fact that the God of Death was her master wasn't something he liked. It meant that the only seal he could use quickly if worse came to worse was useless against her.

Ignoring her teammate's distress, Tsunade only had one more question before she could make her decision on what to do. "One last question. Since I can't leave you unchecked, is there any preferences on who would your guard would be?"

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade as he tried to figure out what she was doing. It was as if she already had made her decision already, so what was she trying to accomplish? Could it be that she was interested in the visions the nekomata was having of Naruto? If not, what was it? As Jiraiya tried to figure this out, Nibi looked at Tsunade as if she grown a second head and was thinking around the same lines of Jiraiya except she was sure of what she was doing. "If you wish to know, I rather be with the jinchuuriki since my master marked him."

"As I expected. That is all." Releasing the privacy jutsu, Tsunade called them backed in before releasing Yamato, Ibiki and Sakura leaving Naruto trying to figure out was going on. "I have come to my decision on what to do. If have decided to let her stay till the threat of Akatsuki is eliminated. In the meantime, she will have to provide for the village, report to me once every day and have a guard at all times. That guard will be you Naruto." Naruto looked shocked as he heard this but Tsunade wasn't finished yet. "As of such, she will be living with you until that time comes. That is all, you are both dismissed."

Naruto's eyes widened beyond belief as he heard this. "What?! Why does she have to live with me in my apartment?! I only have one bed!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes at Naruto before glaring at him. "Then I guess you'll be sleeping on the floor since she is your guest. For the reason why, she chose you. Now go, Jiraiya and I still need to talk."

He wanted to argue more, but seeing the look Tsunade was giving him, he could only nod and argue later as he could tell she wasn't in the mood. "Fine, but I'll be back tomorrow." Tsunade nodded lightly as she figured this already as Naruto led Nibi out and to his home even he didn't wish to.

Once he was gone, Jiraiya instantly put the privacy seal back up as he looked at Tsunade sternly. "You didn't tell him about Sasuke going after Itachi."

"He doesn't need to know about it. Both he and Sakura just lost Kakashi, if they lost Sasuke right after it, it could possibly break both of them. I'm saving them that as of now. I'll be sending another team to bring him back, even if it means back in a bag if he doesn't make it. I know neither of them could do that. And they need to let out and mourn Kakashi's death. But maybe that bijuu can help as she can talk to the dead, which be exactly what they need. To know what the deceased wants them to do." Tsunade answered as she grabbed his sake bottle and took a swig of it.

Jiraiya could only nod in agreement as he knew that the death of a sensei and a very good friend and teammate soon after would be very devastating to Naruto and Sakura. Sighing slightly, he looked at Tsunade as his other question came to mind. "And why did you put the two of them together? You didn't have to give her a choice."

Tsunade nodded as she took another swig and looked over at him. "I know that Jiraiya. But just like you I want to figure out about those visions of Naruto she's been having. Plus you add that she trusts him, she'll go along with everything easier. And... Something about her makes me think she can finally get Naruto to come out of his shell. I don't know what, but I have a firm belief she can do it."

Looking at her in surprise for a second, Jiraiya could understand now why she made her decision before shaking his head as he stretched out and deactivated the privacy jutsu. "Well, that's all I wanted to know. But I have a mission to complete, so see you later Mune-hime."

Jiraiya quickly jumped out of the window with a large smile on his face before Tsunade's fist could connect to his face. Grumbling at her perverted teammate that would get it later, she looked out in the distance and sighed as she pressed the intercom to contact Shizune. "Shizune, can you get me Asuma and Kiba's family."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune's voice came from the box before she scampered off to do just that.

Tsunade sighed as she leaned back and chugged the rest of her sake knowing the night wasn't going to get easier.

* * *

Arriving at Naruto's apartment, Naruto led Nibi in as she pulled out her cloak, not liking that she had to hide from everyone still. Shaking that from her head, she sighed as she noticed the small apartment as there wasn't much room in. "Not much of a home I take it."

"It's all I have." Naruto answered as he closed and locked the door as he didn't want to anyone just to waltz in there and tear up the place as it wasn't uncommon for that to happen in the past.

Nodding in understanding, Nibi looked around before sighing as she sat down on the bed. She was hungry, but she wasn't going to say anything as she felt she was intruding on him. Fortunately she didn't have to as Naruto was hungry as well and went straight to the kitchen and began to pull out a few things from his refrigerator before pulling out a few ramen cups and a pot. Filling it up half way with water, he placed on one of his burners and threw in the ramen from the cups in the pot.

Nibi blinked at him confused at what he was doing before shrugging her shoulders and turning to the window and began thinking about the day. For the most part it was boring to her, but the dream she had was still bugging her. Why did her last couple of dreams revolve around this boy who was thousands of years younger than her and she would be long gone after his death? It really didn't make sense to her. Sure, she had visions in her dreams that revolved around specific people, yet they only appeared once in her dreams.

So why was he special? Did the God of Death have something planned for him? Was Kami himself giving her these visions? She could understand if they did, but why her? Why did she have to be the one they chose for this? She already had enough on her plate as for the first two millennium of her life she had to learn how to control her ability to talk and see the dead. That alone took a massive amount of concentration, but the fact that she had to master her other powers as well and add in the Bijuu Wars and she did not have the time to sit down and understand the dreams she was given.

Yet now she did. Her powers weren't at full, she wasn't in extreme danger and she didn't have anything better to do, so she had to ponder why she had these powers. She knew that she was chosen to restart the original world as it was on the brink of destroying itself by Kami and the God of Death themselves and had been granted control over fire and the dead in order to do so. She didn't like it, but it had to be done as she remembered all too well what that world was like. At least in this world weapons couldn't wipe out entire countries in the flash of an eye and the world wasn't ruled by corrupt figure heads. She knew some of the world was still like this, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before.

Shaking that thought off her head, Nibi sighed before sniffing the air as the scent of what Naruto was making caught her by surprise. It didn't smell half bad, which was surprising as normally anything from a cup didn't taste all that good. Looking over at him, she noticed him taking out to bowls and a ladle before scoping some of what seemed to be noodles and broth before walking over to her and handing her a bowl. Nodding lightly, she gently accepted the bowl. "Thank you."

Naruto nodded lightly as he smiled at her as he sat down at his small desk/table and began eating his ramen at a slower pace then he normally would, but that being that he felt safer at his home. Nibi looked at him oddly for a moment before taking the chop sticks and tasted the noodles before she slowly began to eat as well. After a few moments, Naruto took both of their bowls to the kitchen and rinsed them off as Nibi started thinking about her dream before she awoke.

It was odd. Whatever it was about was big as the fate of the world hinged on it. Yet why was she shown it? Could it be that she was suppose to warn him so he could change the outcome? Was that why she was saved from being sealed with the others because she still had a purpose? Her anger grew at that thought as she knew people have tried to catch them all before for world domination, but it had always failed through divine intervention by Kami and the God of Death choosing one to bring them down. As she thought about that, was this them trying to tell them that he was the one they chose? But why chose a boy that had Kyuubi seen within him?

Sighing as it was pointless to try and figure out why, she looked over at Naruto as he walked out of the bathroom, though when he went in there was beyond her. "Boy, there is something I need to tell you. It's about your future."

Blinking in confusion as he heard this, Naruto intelligently replied to her. "Huh?"

Refraining from sighing at him, Nibi closed her eyes as she looked out at the window and explained it to him. "I was given a gift, or curse on how you see it, that shows me cryptic visions about the future. Sometimes they are clear, sometimes they are not. But this one is about the fate of the world and your role in it."

Naruto's took a step back as he heard this and looked at Nibi in shock. She could see the future, and it dealt with him. And not only that, but the fate of the entire world? What could he been involved with that could effect the entire planet? And better yet, why did it seem this stuff always happened to him? Didn't he deserve some kind of break for what he been through? Being burdened with Kyuubi and treated poorly over the first twelve years of his life and even now since he returned along with trying to bring his best friend back home and being chased by nine of the most powerful nukenin in the world was enough on its own. But now this?

Nibi noticed Naruto's distress as she told him this and sighed. She should have figured he would have reacted like this. Anyone that was told that their fate was intertwined with the fate of the planet would natural freak out. Yet only a jinchuuriki could truly remain calm as the boy was in front of her. Sure he was panicked, but he was used to burdens so it came natural for him to only put on another, even if it didn't need to be. Nodding lightly at her, Naruto spoke softly, yet somewhat nervously. "What is it about?"

Sighing once more, Nibi looked outside for a brief moment before turning to him. "Though I am not entirely sure myself, I do know this from my dream. Darkness is coming once more and a weapon of mass destruction is close to being introduced to this world. You're role is what I'm confused about the most. It seems that you are trying to stop the weapon, but fail in doing so, resulting in the end of the world. I'm not sure if it's really the end or metaphorical end of it, but I do not wish to chance it. All I can really tell is that you are the one leading the way to save it and that the group that nearly sealed me is the cause of it. From my guess, both Kami and the God of Death have chosen you for this task for reasons I do not understand. That is all I can tell you as I do not know more."

Naruto's face fell at this. He was chosen by Kami and the God of Death to save the world, but not only that, should he fail, the world could possibly end. But that wasn't what bothered him. She said he failed to do it. He failed the planet and let it end. Something he prided himself in was that he would never fail, even if it cost him his life. And only once had he failed and that was to bring back his friend and brother in pain, Uchiha Sasuke. And he still had not given up on him nor would he. And now he knew about this, he could change it and he'd be damned if he fail here.

Noticing his change of attitude from shocked to depressed to determined surprised her. She really did not thing that he would recover so quickly, and not only that, but build up the courage to try and take it on. It was baffling as most people would have been frightened out of their mind that the fate of the world rested on their shoulders. Looking at him strangely, she was about to apologize for telling him this when he suddenly spoke up. "Thanks for telling me about this. Now I'm beginning to understand why fate was so cruel to me early on. It was to shape me into whom I am so I can handle this. But now that I know this, I have to train for it and hope the time that I'm needed to be called on isn't too soon."

Nibi could only nod at this as she unintentionally let out a large yawn. She covered her mouth in surprise as Naruto smiled lightly at her. "Tired. Go ahead and take the bed. I'll use my sleeping bag. And don't worry about it."

She nodded lightly as she was about to take off the jacket when she realized she had nothing on underneath it. She quickly turned to Naruto as she had to get this straightened out. "Boy, tomorrow you are taking me out to get some clothes. I cannot wear this all the time."

Nodding in agreement as that was his only spare jumpsuit, Naruto yawned himself as he set up his sleeping bag and grabbed a pillow from underneath the bed. Seeing that he agreed with her, Nibi pulled the sheets over her as she laid down on the bed and sighed lightly as it was much more comfortable than sleeping on a stone floor for eighteen years.

Shaking that thought from her head, she continued to try and decipher the dream she had, but could come up with no explanations after twenty minutes. She noted the boy was asleep, which surprised her as she thought that he would be worried about what she told him, but maybe he was just better mentally prepared for news like that and could handle it. Yawning one last time, she snuggled into the bed and closed her eyes and let the darkness take her as she was still tired from everything that had happened to her in the past couple of days.

From outside the window, Jiraiya sat on the roof top, hearing what Nibi had to say to Naruto. He had originally came her to give his student some tips on how to live with a women and some training scrolls while he was gone since the boy's true sensei and father figure was gone. But now, his face was set in a dead serious tone. The fate of the world would rest in Naruto's hands and he would fail to save it. That alone disturbed him greatly as it was too great of a burden to put on a boy at his age. Then again, Kyuubi was one of the greatest burdens the world could offer and he was given the task to be it's jailer as soon as he was born.

He mentally knew Naruto could handle the burden, but could he actually change it? Sure the boy trained harder than anyone he had ever seen, even his own father the Yondaime Hokage. And he had the gift of natural learning as once he learned something, he could find a way to make it better. He also knew Naruto was smarter than he let on, much smarter. He had been able to pry into that intelligence once and was shocked when he did. If there was a way too keep that gate open, Naruto could give his Nara friend a run for his money in pure intelligence.

Yet there was something else. Something Minato wanted to pass down to him when he was ready. In truth, Jiraiya felt he wasn't ready for it, yet at the same time he knew Naruto was more than deserving to follow in his father's foot steps as one of the greatest shinobi to ever live. And all he need was just a little push and then he wouldn't even need Kyuubi to fight his tougher battles. And hearing what Nibi said, he knew time was limited. It was Akatsuki that was going to be the cause of world's end, and he could not allow that. Screw the technical mission Tsunade gave him. He was going to cripple Akatsuki now to give Naruto a fighting chance. But there was one more thing he would need to do in order to insure that Naruto could change what Nibi told him.

Slipping into the room through the opened window, Jiraiya smiled weakly at his student as he noticed Nibi sleeping in the bed. He actually didn't think he would have been that courteous and gave her the bed as it was his home, but then again Naruto was the most surprising person he had ever met. Shaking that thought off, he bit his thumb as he pulled out the scroll from behind him and unraveled it to show many different sorts of seal and a few storages seals, one which seemed to be extremely advanced. Taking out a vial of what seemed to be blood from another storage seal, he poor all of it on the one seal and mixed in his own blood as suddenly a smaller scroll popped out of it.

Nodding lightly, he picked up the scroll and placed it on the desk as he pulled out a pen and some paper and scribbled down a note as he left it besides the scroll. Rolling up his large scroll and putting it on his back, he looked back down at Naruto before kneeling down and ruffling his hair, which earned him a stop it Ojij. Jiraiya chuckled lightly as Naruto most have been dreaming about sensei again as shook his head and whispered slightly so that no one but Naruto could hear it, even if he was asleep.

"Goodbye Naruto. This will be the last time I'll be seeing you as I know now that I will not be coming back in one piece. But do not worry about me; I'll live on through you. So just make sure you live your life to the fullest, no matter what fate lays ahead. And never, ever give up. Even in the darkest of times, there will always be a slam gleam of hope. If you can grasp it, anything is possible. Now I must go, but work hard and do me and your father proud as we will be watching you." Standing up with a sad smile and a single tear rolling down his face, he jumped out of the window and snuck over the gate wall as he headed for Amegakure for his last battle.

Back in the apartment, Naruto turned over in his sleeping bag a little more confident than before, but he did not know why. A gentle breeze blew through the window and rolled the scroll forwards slightly so the kanji on the bottom could be seen and is said...

Flying Thunder God.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for such the long update, but as you can see, this chapter is long and was a tedious process to go through, though I have to credit Nirvash5 for giving me for some ideas for my outline for this chapter. Anyways, this chapter is long so you might want to go to the bathroom before attempting to read it if you haven't gone already. Just warn you the fights in this chapter do follow canon, but since I don't remember them all that well they're more like more vision of what the battles in canon should have been. So without further to do, here is the next action packed chapter of Troublesome.

_**Warning**_: There are sexual actions AKA a lemon in this chapter so if you do not want to read it, avoided anything between these --marks--.

I Do Not Own Naruto.

* * *

The mourning light slowly seeped through the curtains and down onto the sleeping pair. Due to the bed higher in elevation, Nibi was the first to have the sun rays slowly cross her face and into her eyes. She growled lightly at the light before turning onto her side to ignore it as she was quite ready to get up yet. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Naruto as the light beamed into his eyes. Having nothing to shield him from it, Naruto had no choice but to get up and stumble towards the bathroom.

When he got out without his arm bandaged, he looked over to the bed to see Nibi sleeping soundlessly and shook his head lightly at her. Looking around his apartment further, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary until he noticed a scroll that was not on his desk before. Walking towards it cautiously having people break into his house before and leave behind very wicked surprises, he slowly picked up the note beside it and instantly recognized the hand writing as it belonged to ero-sennin. He mentally groaned at this because knowing his sensei, he stuck around for a bit and checked out his technical charge. Putting that thought aside for now, he began to read the note he left.

_Hey Gaki, sorry for barraging in your apartment while you're asleep but this is probably the last time I'll ever see you. I know I haven't trained you to the best of my abilities during our time away and I hope you can forgive me for that. In an act of redemption, I'm giving you this scroll._

_This jutsu is far beyond what anything you have learned in sheer difficultness as only one other has ever used it, my only other student from Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage. Yes, this is another jutsu he created just like the Rasengan but this one earned him the first ever SS-rank threat from all shinobi nations and his nickname, Kiroi Senko. Now brat, I'm expecting you to use this only as a last resort and to defend Konoha, but knowing you, you'll probably use it to be able to get from your apartment to Ichiraku's ramen in a second flat. I would have repremand you for that, but he did the same..._

_Gaki, I just want to let you know I am proud of you no matter what. You really are like your father in more ways then I could imagine, but also just like your mother. Yes, I knew them both very well but I'm not at liberty to tell you who they were, only the Mune-hime can tell you that as she is the active Hokage so pester her about it. Anyways gaki, I must go now and there will be no return for me but at least I will help ease your trouble and take a few of those Akatsuki bastards down with me. So the only thing I can ask of you is to train hard and never change your ways, even if you are a pain in the ass at times. Now get out there and show the world who you are._

_Jiraiya, AKA Ero-sennin._

Naruto's eyes widened as he finished. His only other sensei planned on challenging Akatsuki and believed he wasn't going to come back. He had to stop this, but he knew he didn't have a chance in hell of catching the pervert as he knew that even if he was the world's greatest pervert, he happened to be one of its greatest shinobi. So he only had one person he could turn to that could stop him, he just hoped she wasn't drunk and/or asleep. Grabbing his pouch and strapping it to the side of his leg, he walked over to Nibi and shook her lightly in order to wake her up.

The said cat demon growled in annoyance as she had almost fallen asleep and had viciously rounded on Naruto to see his dead serious face. She blinked a few times in confusion seeing him like this and knew something was up. Looking around for a brief moment, she instantly noticed the scroll on his desk and note in hand and smelled the white haired man's scent in the room and on the two objects. Not sure what was going on, she had no choice but to go with the flow as much as she detested the idea, she happened to be the boy's charge. She quickly got out the bed and pulled the cloak she was given over her to keep her ears from being discovered.

Naruto nodded lightly at her, he picked up the scroll Jiraiya left him and lead her out of the apartment and locked his door before he jumped to the roof. Nibi blinked at this for a few moments before realizing that it would be faster to jump roof to roof then running through the crowd down on the street and followed his lead as they headed for the Hokage's tower. Without anything impeding their progress, they had arrived at the tower. Quickly passing the guards, they arrived at the Gondaime's office and entered to oddly see Tsunade working on a small pile of paperwork looking quite tired.

Tsunade looked up to notice both Naruto and Nibi and looked over at her clock not expecting them to be here so early. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back towards them only to notice Naruto was already at her desk with a deadly serious face as he laid down the note Jiraiya had left him. Not having a single clue as to what was going on, she picked up the letter and quickly scanned through it before her face grew red with anger as she refrained from crumpling the note. "Damn that perverted freak of nature! I told him just to gather information on them, not to fucking take them head on! Damn that fool!"

As Tsunade was ranting at Jiraiya, Nibi looked on in confusion before sighing as listening to her rant was getting anywhere. Looking over at the reflection of Tsunade in the window, she began reading the note quickly before understanding what was going on and why the boy was like he was at the moment. But she had to wonder what this jutsu was. She had heard of the man that was rumored to be the strongest shinobi ever to live and even gain the respect of a few of the bijuu. Before she could think further on it, Tsunade had calmed down.

The Gondaime Hokage sighed lightly as she handed Naruto back the letter before putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. Jiraiya just had to leave like this, it was just his style but know she would lose her last teammate and couldn't do anything to prevent it. Once again in her life, she felt helpless. Why did everyone in her life have to die? Nawaki, Dan, Orochimaru, Sarutobi and now Jiraiya had all left her. She knew there still a chance for the pervert to come back, but even she doubted that he could take on the entire Akatsuki and make it out alive. And if he didn't, all she had left was Naruto, Sakura and Shizune. Looking over towards Naruto, she shook her head as the lack of sleep became apparent. "Naruto... I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do. Jiraiya has left, now everything is up to him."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at this, not liking that not even his mother/grandmother figure couldn't do anything about what Jiraiya was about to do. "Baa-chan! There has to be something you can do! Send a team after him for back up! Send a hawk to call him back! Something!"

Tsunade looked up at Naruto pityingly, knowing why he was so persistent, beside it being in his nature. Just like her, the possibility for him losing someone else he cared for and being unable to do anything about it was unbearable. The guilt within her grew as it was very likely that he would be losing Sasuke as well, yet she didn't have the heart to tell him that, not until she was sure both he and Sakura could take it and the fact that Sasuke could possibly win. "Naruto, there is nothing I can..."

"Don't give me that! You're the Hokage, you can do anything! I know the old man would do something now even if he had to go himself!" Tsunade flinched at Naruto's words, but couldn't help but feel he was somewhat right. She knew very well if her sensei was alive he would have gone himself, leaving her in charge. Before she could say something to Naruto, she was beaten to the punch.

"Boy, do you not understand what he is doing?" Both Naruto and Tsunade turned towards a slightly irritated Nibi, who was getting pissed at Naruto for badgering the blonde woman who she could tell was already stressed enough. "He left to do everything he can, to help _you_. That was all that was on his mind last night when he left you that scroll last night. I know since I could smell his emotions, even if I was asleep. Nothing else was more important to him other then your safety. With that in mind, he left you that scroll and headed towards where ever the hell he is going, controlling his own fate. So shut up and leave the damn woman alone as she has enough on her hands right now and doesn't need you breaking her as there is nothing she can physically do!"

Once she finished, Naruto's face dropped while Tsunade looked truly surprised at the nekomata's outburst, yet at the same time relived. Naruto looked down as the words finally absorbed into his brain and he felt ashamed that he was causing Tsunade more problems then helping. Yet at the same time, he felt like he needed to do something to stop his last sensei from heading to his doom. Looking up and turning towards Tsunade he bowed his head slightly and apologized. "Sorry baa-chan... I just wish..."

"I know Naruto, I know. But Jiraiya knew what he was getting himself into when he left and still went. There is nothing we can do but hope that he returns in one piece." Tsunade spoke softly as she stood up from her desk and walked over to Naruto and enveloped him in a tight hug. Naruto nodded in response as he hugged her back.

Nibi looked on feeling a little out of place due to the tender moment between Naruto and his mother figure. She felt a little better when the two let go of each other, but it was just awkward to see the blonde teen being hugged tightly by a rather large woman. Putting that thought aside, she leaned back up against the wall as Naruto looked up at Tsunade as he remembered what Jiraiya said about knowing his parents. "Baa-chan, who exactly are my parents?"

Tsunade's face dropped before she sighed knowing it was coming due to what Jiraiya had wrote. Moving back around her desk, she slumped into her chair wishing she had done what Shizune said and had taken her normal nap while drooling on her paperwork. Looking down, she reached down and pulled out a folder from the desk before she pushed it towards Naruto. "Naruto, that folder is what Sarutobi-sensei had kept for you. You see, he had figured he had at least ten more years left in him before he had to retire, so he was planning on giving you this when he did. The truth is Naruto, he wanted to give it you when you became the Hokage. From the first time you ever declared that you were going to become Hokage, sensei believed that you would."

Naruto picked up the folder as he looked at Tsunade. "I believe he knew it would been stupid to keep the information of who your parents were from you so long was stupid, he just wanted to make sure you could defend yourself before making your heritage public knowledge. While I never met your mother, I knew your father well and I could understand why he wanted you to be able to defend yourself from the enemies that you would gain for being known as his son." Naruto looked even further confused then before as Tsunade sighed lightly before continuing. "Naruto, do you know why Jiraiya made sure you learned the Rasengan and why he left you that scroll?"

Looking down at the scroll in his hand, Naruto shook his head as he never really understood the reason. Then again, he never understood the reasons why Jiraiya did everything he did. Tsunade nodded lightly figuring as much as she leaned back in her chair and glanced over the Hokage Monument before turning back to the blonde shinobi. "It's because you're the Yondaime's son. You are the child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. You are and have always been the Yondaime's legacy and not just because what he sealed within you."

It was as if time had stopped for Naruto. What he had always suspected was actually true? He was the son of the Yondaime Hokage. From the day he first looked at he Yondaime's head on the monument, he had always noticed the resemblances between him and himself yet never said anything about it except asking the old man who his parents were. Yet if he looked back on it, he had always noticed the old man reaching in his desk before pulling himself back. _'Ojij really did want me to know, but knew I wasn't ready. Hell, if I had known it back then I would have been screaming it to everyone whose child I was.'_

_'But now everything really does make sense. I now know why the Yon... no, tou-san used me to seal Kyuubi. It was because he rather use someone he could trust that wouldn't abuse the demon's power but at the same time could restrain it and could survive the day to day life of a jinchuuriki. That is why he chose me, because I was his son. I was the one he placed his faith into, the one all his hopes ridded on. And know it makes sense why Jiraiya was training me in the first place, but then again he did say he had a thing for training orphans that had nothing.'_

As Naruto finished up his train of though, both Nibi and Tsunade were looking at him as a full five minutes had passed after the latter had told him the truth of his parentage. They were slightly worried as they were trying to figure out how Naruto was going to react when he suddenly looked over at Tsunade and... smiled. Tsunade was once again surprised by Naruto's reaction, but then again she really stopped taking tabs of being surprised by him when he spoke. "Thank you baa-chan. I always thought I kind of looked like him and now I know why. So what is in this folder anyways?"

Tsunade mentally sighed in relief seeing Naruto wasn't going ballistic as she actually thought he would before she shook her head at his question. "I'm not exactly sure as I haven't looked through all of it, only just enough to learn who your parents were and a little bit about their personalities. All I know is that it tells you about both Minato-kun and Kushina. Sarutobi-sensei, Jiraiya, Kakashi and Uchiha Fuguku and Mikoto created it as they knew the two the best, so Kami knows what is all in there. Don't ask me why Fuguku helped create it as I have no clue. All I know is that both he and Minato were kind of like you and Sasuke."

Naruto bit his lip at the irony of the last part, but quickly put the thought behind him as he still had to retrieve Sasuke. Nodding lightly at Tsunade in understanding and was about to speak when a gentle knock on the door was heard and opened to reveal Sakura. Tsunade nodded and motioned her in before speaking. "Good, I needed to see both of you for this." Both Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and grimaced knowing what it was going to be as they turned back to the Gondaime, who had noticed their grimacing. "Yes, it's about Kakashi's funeral. It will be held tomorrow along after Asuma's and Kiba's. I know this is sudden for both of you, but I have to ask you both to say a eulogy for Kakashi along with Gai since you three knew him the best."

Sakura paled as Naruto's face dropped. Neither liked the idea, but it was in memory of their sensei and as much as he got on their nerves, they would do it for him. Seeing them both nod, Tsunade could only smile lightly at them as they were finally grown up, though she wished the circumstances were different from what they were. "Just to let you know it doesn't have to be long, but just enough to express how you felt about him. And Sakura, you have the next couple of days of so you can grieve, but please neither of you do anything stupid." The last part she said, but was looking more at Naruto knowing that he would be training to help work off his grief.

Both nodded lightly as they promised not to do anything stupid before they turned to leave. As they exited the office, Nibi tapped Naruto on the shoulder making him turn to her only to see her pointing at her clothes while frowning. Understanding what she meant, he could only sigh as he turned to Sakura. "Um, Sakura-chan. Can you help me get some clothes for her since she's going to be here for a while?"

Sakura turned to Nibi before a small smirk crossed her face as she nodded. Shopping would be a great way to relive some of the stress and especially if Naruto was paying. "Alright, but as long as you pay."

Naruto gulped a bit as both looked at him expectantly before he nodded in agreement. He just hoped that his father left him some money somewhere as he was sure this was going to be expensive.

* * *

As night fell, Sasuke found himself too restless to sleep. Tomorrow he would have his chance to avenge his clan and kill the man that caused the misery in his life. While he knew it was a selfish goal, he could not think of it any other way. Sure, Itachi had killed others so in essence he would be gain revenge for the friends and family of the ones that fell to Itachi but he could not see it that way. He was going to kill the one that made his life a living hell and the one threatening his best friend's life.

Looking over the camp, he noted that Suigetsu was already asleep, probably conserving himself for the battle against Kisame. Understanding his reasoning, he continued looking over the camp before realizing Karin wasn't in sight. While he was sure she was probably off to take a bath in the nearby river, he hadn't heard her leave and she normally informed them that she was going to take a bath and threaten Suigetsu if he peeped on her that she would castrate him. Not hearing her do this had him worried enough that he stood up and headed toward the direction of the river.

While peeping was against his morals, he doubted that Karin would mind. Hell, he figured she would flaunt her body in front of him anyways as he knew she liked to show off. A small smirk crossed his lips as he thought of that before shaking his head and muttered to himself. "She really is more like her brother then she thinks."

As he reached the river, he looked over into the distance and noticed Karin sleeping soundly against the shore and shook his head. Walking over to her, he grabbed the towel she placed on a branch on pulled her out of the water and quickly wrapped her up in the towel so she wasn't exposed to the world before lifting up bridal style and heading back to camp, after creating a Mizu Bunshin to grab her clothes. Once at the camp, he laid her into her sleeping bag and zipped her up. He refrained from snickering as she curled up slightly and began muttering incoherent things under her breath, though he could make out Sasuke so he was pretty sure she was dreaming about doing something to him.

Shaking his head more, he sat down besides the fire and went over all the files he copied into his head after he killed Orochimaru. He knew the snake had a very effective spy system so he figured he would learn some interesting things, but what he learned copied had surprised even him. He had learned the truth to Naruto's lineage. While at first this wasn't extremely important, he was mildly shocked that the same blonde he considered his best friend was the child of the Yondaime. But after reading up on everything he had on Naruto and his lineage, he was shocked beyond all reason to learn what he did.

Orochimaru had notes just on what ages Naruto would be able to use another tail of Kyuubi's chakra and had predicted by the time he was nineteen Naruto would be able to use all nine tails, though it could quite possibly kill him on the first attempt. While he acted on the outside that he didn't care for Naruto that was further from the truth as Naruto was the only person that he believed that could truly understand him. So after reading his notes on Naruto and seals, he began to go through all of them to find a way to convert/harness Kyuubi's chakra so it would be useable for Naruto without the horrible side effects that he witnessed when Naruto went on a four tail rage against Orochimaru and would have killed the latter if he hadn't ran off.

So far he had found nothing extremely useful, but he believed he was close as much as it displeased him to even think, Orochimaru was very intelligent and could have possibly made an excellent seal to help Naruto harness the demon's power if he had put his mind to it. Then again, it was surprising that Orochimaru didn't try to kidnap Naruto earlier in his life and do exactly that as the man was attracted to power and Kyuubi was the strongest of the bijuu, possibly the strongest living being in the world. Putting that thought aside, he continued going through all his copied information, not noticing that Karin was slowly waking up.

Flicking her eyelids open a few times, Karin nearly jumped up in alarm as the last place she remembered being was in the river. Now that she was in the camp she was very alarmed as it meant someone had looked at her naked form. Seeing that Suigetsu was sleeping, that only left Sasuke. She blushed madly at the thought that he had saw her naked, but it was fair she guessed as on multiple times she had seen his naked form. Looking around for her master, she noticed he was sitting by the fire, once again poking it with a stick. She blinked a few times before it finally began to irk her. He seemed to have more interest in the fire then anything else.

Getting annoyed at the lack of attention he showed them and remorse over Juugo's death, she slowly stood up while making sure the towel was covering her and walked over to him. She became even further irked as he hadn't even noticed her, he was just staring off into the fire for answers. While she knew of his past and knew of the horrors in it, she still didn't like being ignored by someone, even if she thought that someone to be outstandingly hot. Just as she was about to yell at him, Sasuke spoke. "What do you want Karin?"

She stopped herself from yelling out what she was going to say as she looked down at the young Uchiha. Having lost her train of thought, she pondered for a moment before remembering what it was she was going to yell at him about before saying it calmly, but laced with disapproval. "Well for starters, I wanted to know what so damn important about that fire that you ignore everything else around you. Then maybe you could tell me why you don't even show sorrow for Juugo's death. He fucking died to make sure you knew the other Uchiha was part of Akatsuki for Pete sakes! And finally, what in Kami's name was so important about those dual chakra reserves that you had us chase after Konoha shinobi, who by the way want to catch you!" She finished a little louder and more violently then she anticipated, but it was in her nature to do so, so she didn't really care.

Sasuke continued looking into the fire, not even looking at her as she yelled at him which irked her even further. Sighing to himself, Sasuke stopped poking the fire before turning towards Karin with an almost stoic expression with tiredness being the only emotion showing. "Karin, I can understand your anger, but forgive me as this is who I am. Nothing will ever change that no matter how hard people try."

Blinking lightly, Karin realizing that Sasuke was asking her to calm down so after taking a few deep breathes she did so. Sasuke nodded lightly before sighing as he turned back to the fire. "As for your questions, I do feel remorse for Juugo's death I just cannot show it. My life has been full of death ever since that day and ever since then I've not been able to properly emulate my emotions. After a while, I just gave up and left my emotions on the inside while allowing them to occasionally surface around a few people. As for the dual chakra reserves, I was worried that Akatsuki might have caught my best friend, the same one that keeps trying bring me back to Konoha."

Karin's eyes shot up at that. She had known that he had a friend in Konoha, but he distanced himself from him for a reason she couldn't catch. As if seeing her questioning, Sasuke continued. "As I learned from Orochimaru, my friend happened to be a jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Kitsune. While I detested him at first for it, I couldn't hold it against him for holding back the creature that nearly destroyed Konoha. Even so, I was jealous of him because he held a great power within him, a great power he had begun to tap into. So I began training with my goal being to surpass him, not to kill Itachi. But for me to surpass him, I had to train till I dropped as I knew where ever he was he would be doing the same."

"Two and a half years past and I finally ran into him once more. It seemed that he had improved, but nowhere near what I had. I was disappointed for him and used my clan's ability to enter his mind and find out what Kyuubi was doing as I believed he would flourish without me there to distract Kakashi from teaching him. When I did so, I made a mistake and had forced Kyuubi's chakra out making my friend go berserk and attack everyone there. I was grateful for Orochimaru's arrival as all of his attention was averted to him. During the fight, I witnessed the strength he showed and he even pushed Orochimaru into a corner. The snake fled from the battle just as Naruto reverted back, showing the aftermath of Kyuubi's chakra. He was a bloody mess as his own blood was pouring out of his pores while his skin was burnt from the intensity of the chakra."

Karin felt a little ill as he said this as she had seen some disturbing things, but bleeding from every pore with charred seemed a little over the top. Sasuke noticed this and turned back over to her. "He completely recovered from it, but sooner or later he will have to use it once more and he might be during a battle when the chakra recedes. I want to prevent that from happening as from everything he has shown, I think he might actually be the one that can bring this world the peace it has so longed for. That is why I stare at the fire every night; I am searching for a something that can help him harness Kyuubi's chakra."

As he finished, Karin was staring at him in shock and aw. Shock that he was actually thinking about someone other then himself and aw that he would go to such lengths to help his best friend. It just didn't fit his image, in fact talking that much didn't befit him. Yet the same time, she could see it was the truth as his eyes but there seemed to be something more, something he left out. Having heard him talk that much, she really didn't want to push the issue much further, but she had to question his motive. "You would go to such length just for a friend?"

Sasuke couldn't refrain himself from smirking as he chuckled lightly before quickly covering it up. Karin's eyes widened hearing him laugh, no matter how little it was. Yet his laugh fit him well. It wasn't a dark nor an overly happy laugh, but just right for him. Sasuke frowned lightly at her before looking back at the fire before his smirk returned to his lips. "There isn't a day goes by that I don't think the same thing. Always questioning why I would do this for someone that at times can't even help himself. But underneath the idiotic exterior that he shows day in and day out, is someone that is worthy for me to call a friend. You know why?"

Karin shook her head, not sure where this was going as Sasuke turned towards her while smiling lightly. "Because he would go over and beyond what I would for me, this is the least I can do for him. Hell that idiot was the one that gave everything he had and beyond to keep me from Orochimaru long enough so he was forced to use another body for his jutsu and not mine. While I know that wasn't his goal, but in the end he made a difference and that is what truly matters."

Soon as he finished, Karin had seated herself besides him. Hearing what he had said, she truly wished she had someone like that as a friend. And seeing the light smile on Sasuke's face as he was talking about him just made feel all the more envious of the boy. He had something that all the girls that chased after Sasuke would kill for. He had his friendship and trust. The more she thought about it, the more jealous she was of him. "I see. You know I always kind of thought my brother would be that way. I mean, he looked just like dad did when he was born and mom always went on and on about what he would do for her or a friend." As she finished, her face dropped drastically as she looked at the ground with tears threatening to spill.

Sasuke's face dropped for a quick second, but he quickly hid it with a light smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Truthfully from all the files he copied he knew of her parents and who her little brother was, but he didn't wish to tell her now. Not until tomorrow was over with. "Don't worry, where ever your brother is I have a very strong feeling he is exactly that way. And I promise you after tomorrow, I will help you find him one way or another."

Karin's head snapped up and Sasuke swore he heard bone cracking as her tears dried up as she looked at him, trying to see if he was telling her the truth. She wasn't exactly trusting when it came to someone helping her as the only one ever tried to help her find her family was Orochimaru and he just promised he would do it and never did. Looking him in the eyes, she could see that he wasn't lying to her, but once again she could see he wasn't telling the full truth. It was as if he knew more then he let on, but she would let it slide for now. "You would do that for me?"

A grin not unlike Naruto's found its way on his lips, which actually horrified Sasuke mentally, as he looked over to Karin before shrugging as he poked the fire with the stick once more. "Hn. Have nothing better to do then going to Konoha after killing Itachi tomorrow and that former can wait."

Frowning at what Sasuke said, she was about to question his whole reasoning when she noticed the sly grin on his face. A grin not unlike his, which frightened him even more as his was like Naruto's, graced her lips as she slowly shifted herself to a pouncing position. Sasuke's eyes widened seeing this and knew exactly what was going to happen without the help of his Sharingan but couldn't move fast enough to avoid it, just like with Lee. Karin leapt at him in a straight line and tackled him while miraculously keeping her towel on though the distance between the two was less then a foot. Looking down on at Sasuke, who was slightly uncomfortable, but didn't really mind seeing the position the two were in. "Now, now. We can't have you being bored while doing this for me now can we?"

Sasuke smirked at her before gripping her waist and flipping them earning him a loud squeak from Karin. He smirked as he looked down at her this time and for once, didn't see her as one of his fan girls but as a young woman that wanted him for himself not because his clan. But something about that eerie Naruto like smile just put him off before his eyes widened in surprise as she flipped them again. Not wanting to be on the bottom period, he rolled with her making them roll on the ground a few times before he they stopped with him on top of her surprisingly on her sleeping bag.

**-- **Looking down at the girl below him, Sasuke smiled lightly at her as he brushed his hand through her hair. He wasn't sure on how to continue this as he never really learned anything important from Kakashi in his area and cursed lightly knowing that Naruto had to know how to do this because of his damn perverted sannin sensei. The act wasn't the difficult part, but the getting to it would be troublesome as Shikamaru would accurately put it.

Sensing this Karin rolled her eyes as she grabbed his shirt and tugged it off before deeply kissing him. She couldn't help but moan as Sasuke quickly caught on and began kissing her back. Rubbing her hands on his back wildly, she couldn't help but be amazed that this was actually happening. The boy she was courting actually was making out with her. It never happened for her before as mostly everyone was too creeped out by her and her bio-polar nature. Pushing herself into Sasuke as she deepened the kiss, she couldn't help but blush as she felt his hard-on through his pants.

Sasuke was blushing himself as he was actually doing this. While he didn't have a problem with it, it was just a first time sensation and was already having second thoughts about this as his manhood was rubbing up against her thigh. Looking down at her as he broke the kiss, he was trying to determine if she would let him do this when he suddenly found himself on his back once more and Karin straddling his hips without her towel covering her body. He blushed madly at this as it was the first time he actually had been able to see a naked woman without looking through the books Kakashi and Kabuto had.

Smirking as she knew this all too well, Karin slid her hands into his pants and gripped his harden member and began to slowly stroke it as she winked at Sasuke. Being spurred on by his moaning, she slowly pulled it out of its confinement as she continued stroking the hard thing. Taking a good look at it she was quite impressed as he wasn't extremely big, but was big enough to completely fill up most girls. Stroking it a few more times, she finally stopped as she lifted herself up and placed the head at her entrance and smirked as she looked down at the slightly stunned Uchiha. "And now let's get this thing started!" With that said she impaled herself on him and moaned loudly as he reached almost all the way inside of her.

He couldn't help but moan at the feeling and was quite surprised and pleased that Karin didn't even wait as she began to ride him. While he didn't like the fact that he didn't have control, it was okay for now as she was just starting out for him as he was nervous. Placing his hands on her hips, he moaned softly as he watched her ride him faster and harder and slowly began to understand the statement riding him like a bull. After a full minute of watching her, Sasuke got tired of not having any control and gripped her hips tightly as he stopped her bouncing as he flipped them over.

Karin squeaked in surprise not figuring he would turn so aggressive as virgins were always kind of shy in bed. Not that she was overly experienced, but she had had taken one or two guys before. But she couldn't complain as he was now pounding her faster and way more powerful then she could ever ride him. Having him increase his speed with every thrust wasn't helping much as she was nearing her breaking point and really couldn't do anything to help him near his release from this position.

Sasuke too was close to his release as he slammed himself into Karin harder then before knowing she loved it from her harmonious moaning. Feeling himself reach his edge, he began to wonder if she was close and if she needed anything more to climax when he suddenly felt her tight walls clamp around him as her moaning turned into screaming making him wonder how Suigetsu hadn't woken up yet. Realizing she was climaxing now, he began pumping into her as he could before he finally released into her.

Her eyes doubled in size as she felt some hot being poured into her womb and knew that he had came inside her but didn't care at the moment as a second climax came over her from his seed. After both of their climaxes died down, the two looked each other in the eyes before they both smiled lightly at the other while they panted softly.**--**

Looking down at the panting red head, Sasuke kissed her gently on the lips as he held her closely to him, feeling like he was finally complete. Taking another good look at her, he whispered gently in her ear. "Good night, Uzu-hime."

Karin smiled lightly as she panted and looked up at him before nodding as she held him closely before closing her eyes and letting the darkness consume her. After a few moments, Sasuke slowly slid out of her grasp and readjusted his pants while picking up his shirt that had been lost a while back before sitting down at the fire and looking at it more determined them ever. _'Naruto, I just hope you don't kill me for what I just did...'_

* * *

Not to far away at the Uchiha's secret hideout, Uchiha Itachi sat at the throne waiting for his time. Although he knew Sasuke would be there in the mourning, he thought it best to be prepared as Sasuke could come in at any time any moment. Not that he was worried that he could lose to his younger brother, just that he didn't want to be caught napping and giving his young brother the chance for an easy kill. That would be the most embarrassing way to go after having molded his brother into the one that could test his capacity while wishing his brother gained the Mangekyou somehow.

Then again, he didn't know why he was worried. Kisame had told him he would take the night shift and watch out for anyone coming since he didn't have to worry about an S-rank threat tomorrow. As true as that was, Itachi just couldn't find it in him to sleep. He wanted his light back. He wanted to be able to see clearly now. Without his Sharingan on, he could hardly see what was ten feet in front of him without it being like a fog and even that was fading. It wouldn't be too long until he would never be able to see again even with the Sharingan and he couldn't stand the very idea of that. His eyes helped him become who he was, even if he didn't completely rely on them.

Hearing something move nearby him, his Sharingan appeared faster then a blink of an eye as he pulled out a kunai and threw it towards the maker of the sound only to see it go right through what seemed to be an after image. Itachi growled lightly knowing all too well who it was as only one person could use the only space/time continuum jutsu that was near the level of the Yondaime Hokage's Flying Thunder God. "What do you want Madara?"

The orange mask wearing Akatsuki member fazed back into existence right at the same spot where his after image making it seem like he was able to unsolidify himself. Taking off his mask, Madara looked Itachi dead in the eyes before he lightly smirked at the younger Uchiha. "So it seems the time has finally come. Are you ready to kill your brother this time or are you just going to take his eyes and leave him to live for the rest of his life?

Itachi refrained from growling at Madara as he didn't wish to piss of his mentor over the last half dozen years. Nodding his head at the elder Uchiha, he deactivated his Sharingan seeing that he wasn't a threat. "Yes I will kill him this time as I won't be like you and torment my otouto's life even further by letting him live after taking his eyes. That is something no shinobi should have to live through, especially us Uchiha as our eyes are what separate us from the other clans."

Madara nodded in understanding though he was slightly disappointed that Itachi wouldn't continue his brother's suffering, but it wouldn't matter any longer. Itachi's use had run out and it was time for him to find a new apprentice, one that could possibly even surpass him if trained in the correctly. "Itachi, I have to know, did you warn the Kyuubi vessel about the switch of captors that I authorized?"

The younger Uchiha narrowed his eyes dangerously at the elder, trying to understand how he knew about him warning Naruto of this. The only way he could think of him being able to do so was that either Zetsu was watching his clone or that Madara was following it. Either way, there should have been no one following him as he had made sure of it as no one, not even Madara could sneak up on him when he was alert. Getting angrier at the second, Itachi began to calm himself down as he began thinking of a way to lie to Madara without him being able to pick up on it if his long pause wasn't reason enough to believe. So quickly coming up with a plausible lie and a half truth, he answered the creator of Akatsuki. "No. All I told him was I wasn't in charge of catching him any longer. So in truth, he knows I'm not after him, but I left him in the dark about who his new captor is."

Madara narrowed his eyes for a brief moment before nodding. He had suspected Itachi to do this as the young Uchiha was too prideful and vengeful not to do something that would get back at Pein for calling him incompetent. But having watched the young Uchiha from a distance, he knew exactly what he said so there was no way for him to get out of this. "Is that so? I swore I heard you tell him that the leader would be coming after him. Am I mistaken?"

The blood rushed from Itachi's already paled face as he heard this. He mentally cursed as he should have known someone would have been watching of him as he hadn't been his usual self the past couple of weeks. Then again, it was pretty hard to be himself when he was forced to do mundane tasks while the rest of Akatsuki was actually doing something. Putting that thought away as it was unneeded at the moment, Itachi growled lightly at Madara as he was going to have to be direct to pull this off. "Well if someone would give me something important to do I might not have told him anything at all. I might be going blind, but with my Sharingan I can still see perfectly so do not think you need to limit my missions because of that. And honestly, I have been more qualified then almost everyone sent on your missions recently then the ones sent."

Raising his eyebrow at the young Uchiha, Madara tilted his head in confirmation as he did have a point. But it didn't matter any longer, so he looked sternly at his student. "I see. Well, as you know I will have to punish you for your transgression but on the bright side, you'll still be part of Akatsuki." Itachi narrowed his eyes hearing this and was not going to allow this to happen especially seeing that he was about to fight Sasuke in the mourning. But before he could react or even activate his own Sharingan, Madara's morphed into his Mangekyou as he muttered a single word.

_"Tsukiyomi." _

* * *

The rain poured down as Jiraiya quickly made his way through the marshes of Ame no Kuni. While it was a common thing for it to rain here and often, he could tell this rain wasn't normal as there was a minuscule amount of chakra in each drop making him wonder who could possibly be creating so much rain as from his network said it hadn't stopped raining since Hanzo and the former administration were killed. While he figured it to be the Akatsuki leader, this Pein, he also found it quite disturbing as he remembered that one of the orphans he taught here in Ame had the ability to create rain.

Thinking on this more, the more and more he began to realize that one of the three orphans/students he taught from here could possibly still be alive. While he knew it was always possible, he hadn't thought it to be true as the area he last left them was completely destroyed and the three's blood was scattered thorough it. Putting that thought aside for now as he had reached the walls of Amegakure. Using his Peeping Tom Jutsu out of its normal context, he quickly slipped through the bridge to the gate unnoticed. Stopping besides the gate, he placed a few explosive tags covered by genjutsu on the sides of the gate before moving away and heading into the village before activating them.

The explosion collapsed the gate and killed the guards underneath before the rubble fell onto the bridge taking it out with extreme precision. Nodding at his work, Jiraiya took a quick look around before moving towards Amegakure's Kage tower while evading any of the shinobi that were rushing towards the destroyed gate. It wasn't quite difficult as he was sannin and said to be the strongest even though more countries feared Orochimaru. Reaching the tower, he slowly made his way around it and began placing high powered explosion tags on structure beams that would make the tower collapse without damaging the civilian buildings around.

Finishing placing the tags on the outside, he had one last one to place on the main structure beam holding the tower up from the inside. Slipping inside between the two guards with ease, he silently slunk his way towards the beam and placed the last and very large tag on the beam before rushing outside so he wouldn't be caught up in the blast he was about to set off. Getting outside once more, he noticed it wasn't raining any longer, but put it off as he needed to get himself some distance from the tower as his Peeping Tom jutsu dissolved.

His ears twitched lightly as he heard swirling in the air. Acting on instincts, Jiraiya quickly jumped to the side and turned around to see a handful of paper shuriken puncture the ground where he was. Turning towards the direction they came from, a sad smile graced his lips as he instantly recognized the blue haired woman floating in the air being supported by two paper angel wings. "Konan, what a fine woman you have become."

Konan gritted her teeth in anger at the perverted sage, but with one look at his face she could tell it wasn't one of his lecherous grins and knew something was going on. Taking a look around, she wasn't sure exactly what he was doing but knew he was the one that blew up the gate. Looking down at her former sensei, she looked coldly at him which was hardly a feat as she looked cold to everyone. "What are you doing here pervert? You lost your chance to make up for abandoning us long ago."

Even though he had thought them to be dead, a small part of Jiraiya winced at her statement wishing there was something he could do to make up for it. But seeing the cloak she was wearing that time had past and she was know and would be his enemy till he either eradicated Akatsuki or died trying. "I am sorry for that, but I thought you all to be dead as I couldn't find you after I came back. But I am not asking for forgiveness. I am here for one and only one purpose so I am sorry for what I must do to you."

With a minute chakra pulse, the tower exploded into a blaze of fire. Konan's eyes widened as she turned in mid air to see the tower showering burning debris over the area. She attempted to fly above the debris so it wouldn't hit her wings and succeeded as the tower fell into itself without damaging the surrounding buildings. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she wheeled around in mid air only to see that Jiraiya was gone. Looking around in an attempt to find him, she noticed her back began to suddenly feel warmer before it became blistering hot. Looking behind her, her eyes widened in fear as her wings had caught fire and noticed a small hole where the fire started indicating she was hit by the debris.

Not having a choice as she didn't want to burn to do, she detached herself from her wings and landed on the ground in a crouch. Standing up slowly, she was about to create herself a new pair of wings when she spun on her heals and turned around only to see Jiraiya on her holding a blue ball of spinning chakra in his hand before shoving it in her chest. Her eyes widened in surprise as the ball ripped and tore through her chest with tremendous force. Looking up into the face of her sensei, she could see the pain in his eyes but at the same time determination to complete what he came here to do. "I am sorry Konan."

Jiraiya's eyes doubled in shock as Konan smirked before she fell limply to the ground as nothing but a paper doll. Spinning around, he noticed Konan on the ground with two angel wings sprouted from her back with a frown on her face as she looked Jiraiya in the eyes. "Sensei, I never thought you were the type to kill your own students."

"I never would, but you no longer are my student and you are endangering my current student and my godson. By everything in my power, I will stop your group today. So I'll give you one chance Konan, stay out of my way or you will be in a body bag by the end of the day." Jiraiya answered her without pausing for a second as he was set on his course of action.

Konan narrowed her cold eyes at the white haired sage in front of her as she floated into the air and pulled out what seemed to be another handful of paper shuriken and kunai. "That will not happen, _sensei_. You are not strong enough to take all of us out and even if you did, nothing will stop our goal! We will unite this world and stop the wars! Now die for your transgressions!"

With a flick of her wrist, she sent the paper shuriken and kunai towards Jiraiya who easily evaded them and shushined besides her. She blocked his strike for her wings before her eyes widened as he grabbed her ankle on his descent down and threw her towards the burning wreckage of the tower. Placing as much chakra as she could in her wings, she managed to stop herself in mid air and turned to the sage only to see him on her once more.

Jiraiya pulled out a kunai and struck for her throat and would have successfully ended her life if Konan had not split herself into two using her mastery of the Origami Shinobi Arts. Taking out the paper clone with the strike, he ducked under the shuriken she threw at him before throwing his own at her before using kawarimi and replaced himself with his kunai and kicked her into the burning wreckage of the tower. She quickly split herself into two once more and had her clone burn in the fire as she landed just outside of it as Jiraiya finished going through over fifty hand seals within two seconds flat.

_"Suiton: Suiryudan." _

All the puddles of water on the ground quickly formed into one large dragon and screamed towards Konan before she could even move. The dragon slammed her into the ground and created a small crater the shape of her body as it stopped. Slowly picking herself up, she tried to form another set of angel wings, but due to the water from Jiraiya's water dragon she was soaked and could no longer rely on her origami. The blood rushed from her face as she looked over at the toad sage as he walked towards her with kunai drawn, planning on finish her. Backing up as she had nothing left due to all her paper being wet, she could do nothing but attempt to stall him and even that didn't seem to be working as Jiraiya was within feet of her. But a small glimmer of hope reappeared in her eyes as the rain began to fall once more. "Konan, maybe we'll meet again someday."

As he slashed his kunai to her throat another intercepted it and knocked his out of his hand. Quickly wheeling around, he noticed an auburn haired man with long hair in a pony like Ino's with piercings covering his face and the oddest eyes he had seen before. His eyes widened as he instantly recognized them before he narrowed his eyes. "Nagato? It's not possible. I know you're dead as no one could lose that much blood and survive. Who are you?"

Pein looked unfazed by what Jiraiya said as it did not matter to him. He gazed over to Konan and noticed her state before nodding as he figured she wouldn't have last long against the toad sannin and had only sent her in an attempt to wear him down. Seeing it hadn't work, he would have to fight the strongest sannin at full strength though he was confident he would win. "Ah sensei, you're here at last. It has been a while but it's too bad to see you're working against us. As for who I am, I let you figure that out as I kill you."

Before Jiraiya could respond Pein went through a few hand seals before biting his thumb before hitting the ground. In a large poof of smoke, what seemed to be a large crustacean with the same eyes as Pein stood in front of the toad sannin as Konan moved behind Pein to keep Jiraiya from using her as a shield during battle. The crustacean looked down at Jiraiya and from the look on his summoner's face he knew this was the enemy and scuttled toward the toad sannin.

Jiraiya quickly jumped away as the crab/lobster like creature tried to grip him in its claw. He wasn't too worried about the crustacean all that much as even with its impressive speed for what it was it was not a match for him as he could beat Gamabunta if he put his mind to it. Avoiding another claw aimed to decapitate him, Jiraiya gripped its arm and leapt up on it, only to be force off as the other claw nearly sliced his stomach open. Sliding back from the creature, he admitted that he slightly underestimated it as its movements were actually quite fast.

Waiting for the summon to attack, Jiraiya slid into his battle ready stance. The crustacean screeched out before scuttling towards him even faster then before but Jiraiya was ready this time. With a quick jump and flip in mid air, he landed on the back of the crustacean and pulled out a kunai and slashed at the back of its neck. To his surprise, the kunai bounced of its scales without even leaving a scratch. He would have tried again, but he was forced to jump back as the crustacean rolled over before turning around and facing him once more. Getting highly annoyed by Pein's summon, Jiraiya went through a few hand seals before placing his hands on the ground. _"Doton: Yomi Numa!"_

The ground beneath the crustacean liquefied into what seemed to be a quicksand like mud as the more the summon thrashed around, the further it was pulled in. Jiraiya watched in satisfaction as the crab/lobster like creature was pulled into the mud completely with no way to get back as he turned to Pein but only to narrow his eyes as Pein finished the seals for Kuchiyose once more and now he summoned what seemed to be a cerberus. Biting his lip to keep from screaming in annoyance as he wasn't this bad when he used to use his summon for battle, he prepared himself for another battle.

The cerberus pounced him with speeds that put the crustacean to shame. Jiraiya was already expecting it to be much faster then the other managed to roll out of the way as he pulled out a kunai and threw it towards its paw in an attempt to slow it down. It worked for a brief second before one of the heads pulled it out and rushed him once more not giving Jiraiya the time to evade. To the three headed dog's surprise, Jiraiya had caught its two live heads since Hanzo head killed the other before throwing it onto its back.

Jiraiya jumped onto the cerberus chest with kunai drawn and had brought it down to end the summons life, but before it could completely pierce through; it swatted him off with a lucky swipe of its paw. Jiraiya growled in annoyance as he was slowly getting pissed at each summons' resistance, he quickly put a plan into action as he watched the dog roll back onto its legs. Holding his kunai at the ready, the toad sage steady himself as he waited the cerberus to charge and he wasn't disappointed as it roared and pounced him again. Just as it was on him, Jiraiya threw the kunai at point blank range and took out the main head before he gripped the other and twisted, snapping its neck with ease.

As the cerberus fell limply to the earth, Jiraiya walked by it as he glared at Pein with fire in his eyes before growling in annoyance as the man was using Kuchiyose again and summoned... Nothing? Looking around in confusion, Jiraiya tried to figure out what he had summoned before his eyes widened in surprising seeing that Pein was no longer behind the smoke. For a moment he was thinking he had used some kind of reverse summoning before he felt something moving towards him, yet he couldn't see it. Having no choice as he couldn't see his attacker, he jumped into the air only to have something long and slimy smash into his stomach sending him skidding across the ground.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he stood up and looked around for his attacker, but he couldn't see or sense a thing. Having never fought an invisible opponent before, Jiraiya was about to use Yomi Numa once more when he felt what felt like a tongue wrap around his wrist and throw him into the air to keep him from using his jutsu. As he was falling, Jiraiya quickly went through a new set of seals to try and figure out what was attacking him as whatever it was could keep itself invisible without the rain giving its position away. Taking a deep breath and exhaling as he neared the ground, a breath burst of flame consumed everything on the ground and had forced Konan to jump to the wall to keep from being barbequed.

The fired died down as Jiraiya had landed and a small smirk graced his lips as he caught a glimpse of what was attacking him. It was a summoned chameleon. Now that didn't help him in the slightest, but now at least he knew what he was going up against and that was better then not knowing your attacker. Soon as he saw the chameleon it had disappeared into nothing once more forcing Jiraiya on the defensive once more. Jiraiya seeing that the rain was helping it keep hidden decided to put an end to the rain as he finished going through a dozen hand seals before breathing deeply and exhaling a massive dragon of fire. The dragon evaporated all the water along with the clouds in the area eliminating the rain for now.

His victory was short lived when he felt the summon's tongue wrap around his neck and attempted to violently pick him up in an attempt to snap his neck. Jiraiya was having none of that as he used his needle guardian to repel the chameleons attack as it let go. Seeing it let go, Jiraiya's hair returned to normal as he was beginning to run out of option on how to keep the chameleon from sneaking up on him once more. Everything he had tried did not seem to work and he had only one option left and he hadn't used that since Naruto had gone berserk when he pulled out four tails on him. Being knocked back by the tongue once more, Jiraiya gritted his teeth as he no longer had a choice.

Going through the proper seals, he bit his finger and used Kuchiyose but instead of the smoke enveloping a summon, it enveloped him. As the smoke began to disappeared, Jiraiya still stood where he was, but he no longer looked like the same person from before. His body had remained the same from the change but his face was a completely different story. His nose had nearly tripled in size and rounded in shape with warts covering most of it. His face marking had changed as well as he seemed to have black face paint not unlike Kankuro's. But the most significant change was that he had two elderly frogs upon his shoulders, the one on his right being male and the other being female.

Both frogs looked around in slight shock as they hadn't been summoned for years until not over a few months ago and now once more. So they both believed that Jiraiya was becoming incompetent or that he was facing off against enemies far stronger then he had faced before. Looking over at the said toad sage, they both noted the serious look on his face and knew that they were in for a fight. The male frog elder looked over towards Jiraiya before shaking his head lightly. "It seems that you've gotten yourself in trouble once more pup. So what can we do to help?"

"I'm kind of in a jam here. It seems like my former student before I began training Minato has reappeared and has become quite strong. He also seems to have endless supply of summons as this is his third different one." Jiraiya answered the toad as he kept his eyes on the battle field, not sure were the chameleon was.

The female frog elder nodded in understanding as she looked over at her summoner. "I see... the one from the Great Toad's prophecy."

"No. I am sure it is not him." Both toads looked at him in confusion as they looked at Jiraiya. "I know without doubt that Naruto is the one the prophecy was speaking of. So I am here to give him a clear road so he could do as the prophecy said."

Hearing this, both frogs noticed the conviction in the sage's voice and could tell that the truly believed that his latest pupil was the one. And seeing the determination in his eyes, neither was going to deny the help Jiraiya needed as they had to live out their own prophecies from the Great Toad. The elder male toad nodded in agreement with his senile wife before turning to Jiraiya. "Then we shall help you. And there you are!" In an instant the small toad opened his mouth and a tongue that was way to large for his body shot out and grabbed the chameleon forcing it to appear.

Seeing this, Jiraiya quickly pulled out another kunai and threw it towards the chameleon. The summon's head was split from the contact before it faded into smoke revealing Pein with a slightly pissed look on his face. The toad sage smirked seeing this as he knew the Akatsuki leader thought he had him on the ropes. Of course though, the senile old woman frog had to speak seeing Pein. "God Kami! That thing is hideous with all those things in his face! Kill it now pup!"

Jiraiya bit his lip trying not to laugh even if he knew he shouldn't. The old toad always had a way of saying things that made him laugh. Of course Pein wasn't laughing and was slightly ticked at the toad as he gritted his teeth and went through the seals for Kuchiyose again making Jiraiya mentally groan as the summons just didn't seem to stop. As the smoke faded away from the summoning, Jiraiya was fairly shocked to not see any animal summons, but two humans wearing the Akatsuki cloak. His eyes narrowed at this development. _'Human summonings? I've never heard of human summonings before. This guy is just full of surprises.'_

With that thought, he looked up to the sky and noticed it was already mid day and could only smirk as he slid into his stance. "Well Yahiko, shall we continue this?"

* * *

Both Naruto and Sakura walked solemnly towards the top of the Hokage's tower with Nibi trailing them, feeling out of place once more. They had just finished Asuma's and Kiba's funeral and now it was time for Kakashi's. While they didn't know Asuma very well they did mourn him but not as much as Kiba. Tsunade had not asked them to come to Kiba's as it was Tsume's request as she wanted a private funeral for their clan but they would have a memorial for him in a few days after everyone had the time to recover.

As they walked on top of the tower, they found the remainder of the rookie nine, Gai's team, the majority of the Niju Shotai, Anko, Kurenai, Gai and a few other jounin they didn't know the names of. Looking at each other lightly, the two of them walked to the front of the waiting and took their places as Tsunade sadly and slowly approached the podium. This was the third time she would have to do this, but it was her duty as each of the shinobi under her command was just as important as any other. Looking over everyone there, Tsunade sighed deeply as she spoke in a soft, yet loud tone. "We are here today to remember a great shinobi that accomplishments range far greater then most dream of. While we will mourn for him, let us not forget all the good he has done for the village and for each of us. Now will have a moment of silence before a few of will speak on his behalf."

After the moment of silence, Gai was the first to walk to the podium as Tsunade nodded to him as she moved out of his way. Stepping up onto the podium, Gai took a deep breath as he looked over everyone and gave them a slightly smile as he spoke. "Ah my eternal rival. You have beaten me once again, but this time I wish I truly wished you didn't. If it wasn't for you, I would have never have found someone to push myself far beyond my limits. Even with your hip attitude and your unyouthful choices of reading, I always saw through your mask and knew how you really felt inside. You were just like me as you found a way to coup with what life gave you. In more ways we were the same then either of us would like to admit my friend. I will miss you but when I crossover we can continue our contests right were we left off."

As he finished, everyone clapped lightly even if was a solemn occasion. Gai for all his eccentricity did not do very well with public speeches unless they happened to be about youth. Sakura slowly stood up shakily, still nervous about doing this. Seeing this, Naruto stood up with her and helped her to the stage along. Gai smiled lightly at the two as he moved over for them and patted them both on the back before heading back to his seat. Naruto smiled lightly at Sakura as he helped her to the podium and was about to walk over to his seat but couldn't due to the grip Sakura held his hand in. Seeing that Sakura was having more difficulty then he was, he stood besides her and held her hand as she began her speech.

"While I didn't know Kakashi-sensei as well as some of you here today, I knew him well as a teacher, friend and as a father. As a teacher he helped me when I gave up in myself and almost quit the team on several occasions. Even though I didn't understand what he said then, I finally do now. By me quitting, I would have ended up hurting both Naruto and Sasuke as they were my teammates and I would be abandoning them which would make me lower then trash. As a friend, he had helped me through last year when my mother died and gave me strength so I could get through the day. And finally as a father... he took care of me when my mother was gone and even before then when... I first joined Team Seven as I never had a father figure growing up. Kakashi-sensei... I will miss you... with all my heart."

At the end she began squeezing Naruto's hand heavily as she was struggling to get through it. Once she finished, she was on the verge of crying so he did the only thing he could do to comfort her and hugged her tightly. After a moment, they separated and Sakura slowly walked to her chair as Naruto finally took the stage. Looking over everyone, Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to say that hadn't been said before. Taking a deep breath to get his brain following, he began his eulogy.

"The first day I met Kakashi-sensei, I thought he was nothing but a clown with his looks. Truthfully, I wasn't too far off as he had a good sense of humor and even helped me with a few of my pranks. Although I always thought he trained both Sakura and Sasuke more, he really didn't. I learned through all his help with my pranks that he was helping me become a better shinobi and I didn't notice it till recently. He also always tried to get me to eat more then ramen by dropping through me windows right after I woke up and giving me fruit baskets. I always found it kind of annoying as I didn't like fruit, but I understood why he did it. Kakashi-sensei, even though you were annoying at times and would never let us see what was underneath your mask, your were our teacher and at times, a father. I along with everyone here will miss you, but we will never forget what you have done."

As he finished, a small tear fell from his eye before he walked off the stage and sat besides Sakura once more as Tsunade took the stage once more. "I thank each and every one of you that has come here today to pay your respects. So before we pay our last respects to our lost shinobi I would like to say as of now Hatake Kakashi will be forever memorialized at the very same place he spent his mourning being tardy to everything possible, the Memorial Stone."

A small, sad smile crossed Naruto's lips along with a few other shinobi knowing that was the absolute best way to memorialized one of the better shinobi Konoha had seen over its history. Slowly everyone stood up with a white rose in hand and walked to his casket and placed it in front of his picture which of course was picked out by Tsunade as it was the one he took with Team Seven. The last ones to leave their roses were Naruto and Sakura. The picture on his casket reminded them of better times, times before Team Seven had lost it sensei and their best friend in Sasuke.

As they were walking down the stairs, Nibi looked over at the two before grabbing the two of them and dragged the two into a secluded room. Both looked at the nekomata in confusion as she stared right at them right after she checked to see no one followed them. "Alright, normally I would never do this for a goddamn human, but since I'm going to have to be around you for a while boy I rather not have you mopping around. Same with you girl as he doesn't know the first thing about women's clothing or anything else." Both looked at her and nodded thought neither had a clue as to what was going on. Seeing them nod, Nibi continued. "Alright, I want both of you to touch me otherwise you won't be able to see him."

Naruto blinked at her not understanding what she meant as it slowly dawned on Sakura as she had a weird feeling around the cat demon and know she knew why. "You can let us see Kakashi-sensei?"

Nibi nodded as Naruto's eyes went wide in shock. Looking over at Sakura, Naruto nodded his head as she seemed to in a state of shock. Gripping her hand lightly, he used the same hand to touch Nibi's shoulder. Soon as he did so everything around them began to morph into what seemed to be a purplish sky with reddish yellow clouds. Naruto turned to Nibi in confusion as he didn't know what was going on as Sakura continued looking around in fright. Nibi shook her head lightly as she sighed. "This is known as Purgatory. Normally this is where lost souls that are not sent to either heaven or hell, but it is also the only way for me to contact the dead is through here. He should be here momentarily and you can let go now. It won't revert back till I say so."

Both looked at her in confusion as they did what she said but didn't know who this he was. Nibi rolled her eyes at the two seeing that they came here to see one person and she obviously wasn't going to spell it out for them. As she thought that, a flash of brilliant white light blinded both Naruto and Sasuke as Nibi had closed her eyes knowing how much it hurt. While the two rubbed their eyes furiously so they could be able to see, they heard an all too familiar chuckle. "Sorry about that. You see I was catching up with my old teammates and sensei when this little black cat told me I had two visitors from the other side that wanted to talk to me."

A large sweat dropped rolled on the back of Naruto and Sakura head as no matter how true the statement was only one person could say it like he was guilty of a crime. In an instant both had tackled the scarecrow and crushed him in a bone crushing hug. Kakashi was quite glad that he didn't have a body otherwise he was damn sure he would have felt his spine break. Smiling lightly at his students, Kakashi peeled them off as he stood up and smiled at the two you. "Well I figured you missed me but damn, didn't think it was that bad."

He never saw Sakura's fist coming and was rubbing his head in pain as it didn't matter that he was a celestial body; that punch hurt. "You idiot! Of course we miss you! You died attempting to stall that cold hearted Uchiha!"

Kakashi waved her off, trying to head her off before she got a full head of steam and he and Naruto got hurt in the process. "Ma, ma. Calm dawn Sakura. I knew what I was getting into when I went ahead so it was my fault that I crossed over, no one else's." Sakura calmed down slightly, it wasn't by much but enough for Kakashi to continue. "Yeah, I am sorry for leaving you like I did. I rather have gone down fighting then the way he did me, but it was just the roll of the dice and I got screwed with Tsunade's luck... I so hope they don't leave me here for that."

Both Naruto and Sakura bit their lips at that as it was funny as Kakashi was looking around all shifty eyed hoping no one heard him. Once he finished looking around as he was assured no one was watching him, he turned back to the two and smiled sadly at both them. "I know you two miss me, but it is the flow of life. At least you still have each other and can retrieve Sasuke. As I always said, those who disregard the rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse then trash. Now go on and get out of here and tell everyone not to worry about me. And Naruto, your father and the old man said hi and go kick some ass. Well I added that last part in but still it what they basically said."

Both Naruto and Sakura smiled sadly but didn't want to go, but knew they had to. Nodding lightly at their sensei and hugging him one last time, they walked over to Nibi as they were ready to leave when Naruto turned back to Kakashi. "Oh, I have a message for all those old guys. I'm going to be greater then all of them so they better save me a seat up there."

Kakashi smiled at Naruto and nodded at him as he gave him a thumbs up. "I will but I think they already know. So see you Naruto. Good bye Sakura."

Both waved back at Kakashi as they touched Nibi and disappeared from Purgatory.

* * *

A small smirk graced Pein's lips as he looked over at Jiraiya. "So you finally figured it out. You're sharper then I remember sensei. But it doesn't matter now as your death is insured as I will not hold back any longer."

As he finished his statement, both clones stood up revealing that one had long hair just like Pein's body while the other was almost as tall as Kisame and had spiky hair at the top. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed dangerously as he saw their faces only to see the same eyes that Pein had and the same amount of piercing on there faces though they were in different places. Before he could think of what happened, the old senile woman frog spoke again. "Holy crap! I remember these guys! These are some of the first guys you used this form against pup."

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he looked over at the two summons of Pein. After examining them for a few moments he indeed recognized them but still couldn't believe it. His eyes narrowed as Pein began laughing as he looked over towards him. "You honestly didn't think I know about your Sage Mode. Orochimaru told me of that when he joined so I had time to prepare against you sensei."

Before the toad sage could think of something to say, the long haired one quickly flipped his hair over so it was at his right side as he held out his left arm and aimed it at Jiraiya. Looking at what he was doing in confusion, Jiraiya wasn't sure what he was going to do before his eyes widened as he remembered the fight against the man all those years ago and jumped to the side of the arm flew off like rocket and would have skewered him if he had stood were he was. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he rolled out of the way as the arm returned back to the originator.

Not wanting to give the body another chance to do that the male toad tongue shot out and tried to wrap around it, the rocket Pein jumped out of the way while the large Pein gripped the tongue and would have pulled the old toad off if Jiraiya hadn't rushed forward and landed a punch to his gut. He followed up with a lighting fast palm strike to chest before sweep kicking as he let go of the said toad. As he finished spinning from his sweep kick, he barely managed to roll out of the way of the first rocket fist before sucking up his stomach to lessen the blow of the second fist as it gazed his stomach.

Wincing in pain from the force of the scrape and the after burn, the toad sage jumped to his feet before back flipping to avoid the fist returning to their owner. Before he could think of a way to counter the two of them, the large Pein was on him and he was forced to evade, block and take a few hits from his flurry of fist with an occasion kick. Hearing the unique sound of the fist shooting off the originator, Jiraiya using turned to the elder male toad to see which way it was coming from and noticed were exactly it was. Seeing them, Jiraiya caught the next punch thrown at him surprising the large Pein before gripping his other arm and throwing him towards the rocket fist.

Much to his surprise, instead of seeing the two arms pierce through him they reflected off and returned back to the rocket Pein. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed even further then before as he saw this as it shouldn't have been possible for that to happen as he had felt what a graze did and did not want to feel what a full punch could. Gritting his teeth, he still had noticed that the original Pein had not attacked him yet and quickly called a conference with his toads before the next wave of attack began. "Hey, are you two thinking what I am?"

"Well if you're thinking about taking out the one that hasn't attack then yes. But why did you ask her that? That old wench was probably on another planet." The elder male toad spoke with a slight grin at the end.

The elder female toad looked offended by this and vocalized her thoughts. "As a matter of fact I was just thinking that attacking him would be the best plan. That large one seems to be resilient to damage which will make it though to take down. The other is a good long range attacker and is more of a support fighter and would be easier to take down. But I think the one that summons them is the core so taking him out should take them all out. Ha! Take that old fart!"

Jiraiya ignored the two as they were about to start arguing again as avoided another two rocket fist sent towards him as he went through a few hand seals and used Doton: Doryudan and knocked back the Kisame like Pein. Seeing the path cleared for him to attack the core Pein, he raced over towards him with impressive speeds. Just as he was on him, he outstretched his palm and formed an overly large Rasengan and thrusted it towards him. In a moment of horror, the large Pein had jumped into the way just in time and took the blast but instead of being damaged the large Pein absorbed the attack before knocking back the stunned Jiraiya.

Jumping back up, Jiraiya wiped the blood of his lips as he growled in annoyance as he looked at the three Peins. He knew now that it he took down the one that summoned them he would take them all out, but it was getting to him that was the problem. And the problem had become worse as the core Pein went through the seals for Kuchiyose once more and now three more humans were summoned. His eyes widened as he took a step back in surprise knowing that just the three were giving him hell, but now there was six of them. He heard of stacking the odds but this was getting out of hand.

Pein smirked as he looked down at Jiraiya. "Finally beginning to understand sensei?" Seeing Jiraiya growl at him, Pein's grin widened. "Now you know why this fight is pointless. You will never be able to take all six of us down. Just like in war, the one that reveals there ace up their sleeve last wins. So now prepare yourself sensei as I will be sending you to the other world shortly. But first, you will face the Six Paths of Pein." As he finished, all six Pein separated and surrounded Jiraiya.

The toad sannin looked around him as he composed himself, trying to find a way to reverse this situation as even he had to admit it seemed pretty hopeless. But he wasn't going to back down so he slid himself into his own unique stance as he waited for them to attack while thinking of how to take them down. _'Alright, I know if I take the core Pein out I can take all of them out, but they will protect him so I'm going to have to take a few out before doing so. The one that absorbed my Odama Rasengan is going to be a bitch and a half to take out, but it is a must. I think it can only absorb chakra attacks as the few punches I landed on him did some damage, so maybe kenjutsu is the way to go. As for the others, I don't know a thing about but I'll take them down accordingly once I see what they can do.'_

Having his plan made, he jumped over the bald Pein and landed a kick in the back and used that to catapult himself towards the large Pein as he pulled out two kunai. Blocking the punch throw at him, he landed behind the large Pein and slashed at his back causing a go sized slash as he wasn't fast enough to evade him completely as he rolled out of the way as a few more Peins jumped into the way. A large smirk graced Jiraiya's lips as he saw this as he knew how to take down the one that could absorb his chakra attacks. Pushing chakra into all his limbs, he rushed towards him outrunning the others and was on the large on before he could counter. A slash to his throat and one to the back of his neck and he was decapitated.

Turning around quickly, he managed to jerk his head back enough quickly so he wouldn't take the full force of the rocket fist. Even still he bit his lip as he stumbled backwards, glad that his head wasn't ripped out from the contact. Pushing more chakra into his system, he began flying through hand seals as he was now able to use his jutsu without fear of them being absorbed. Taking a deep breath, he unleashed a stream of fire hot enough to roast most jounins alive forcing the Peins to scatter since none of them wished to be barbequed.

Jiraiya didn't waste any time as he was on the closes Pein as it landed with Rasengan in hand and slammed it into the Pein that somewhat resembled Minato. The Pein crumbled to the ground from the assault as Jiraiya rushed to the rocket Pein and evaded both fist as they flew at him. The rocket Pein was dead soon as Jiraiya was on him as Jiraiya gripped his forehead and had opened the first gate and slammed him through the wall and threw his lifeless body into the ocean. As he turned around, he gasped in surprise as a sharp pain pierced his chest cavity and into his heart.

His eyes widened as he looked at the same Pein that looked like Minato with his sword pushed into his chest cavity. Seeing the one behind him glowing for a brief moment, he instantly realized that one had the power to resurrect the others making them a lethal force. Looking over at the first one he killed, he noted that it was still down. Realizing how to kill them now, he turned to his two toads. "Go to Naruto... tell him... how to..." Pein didn't let him finish as he pushed his sword deeper his heart before knocking the toad sannin just as the rocket Pein jumped back up with the others.

It was mere luck, Jiraiya landed on the rubble as his life slowly began to fade from his body. Using the last of his strength as the two elder toads looked at him in shock he spoke weakly. "Tell him... his weakness... and who... he... is. Promise me... lend your... strength to him... as he is the... last summoner."

Seeing the look in his eye, both toads nodded as the elder female spoke. "We will pup."

"But you still have one more job to do." Finished the elder male toad right before both jumped into the water as both rocket fist crushed where they had been just before and destroying the floating rock Jiraiya was on.

Sinking into the water, Jiraiya looked up as bubbles escaped his mouth yet he could do nothing about it. It was finally his time. He had almost failed Naruto, but he did at least warned him and took out the most troublesome of Pein's bodies. _'Heh. So this is the end. What a way a to go. I kind of feel like a frog in a well finally learning about the ocean... Wait. I didn't name my last Icha Icha Paradise... Hm... I've got... it. The Chronicles... of Uzumaki Naruto.'_

A small smile graced Jiraiya's lips as he thought of his student as his eyes slowly closed. As they were closed, he heard the elder toad's voice once more. _"You still have one more job to do."_

Jiraiya's eyes snapped open as she heard the voice while thinking of his student. The elder was right, his job wasn't done yet. Sure he was already dead, so why not go all the way. He had nothing left to lose. His body no longer mattered so it was expendable. With this thought in mind Jiraiya began focusing on his inner gates and started releasing them.

From above, Pein looked down at the water with satisfaction as Konan moved closer to him. He had done it, but it had been more trouble then it was worth. He had killed his former sensei and now only one was stronger then he was. And when the time came, he would strike him down as well as he was the Akatsuki leader, not him. Putting that thought aside for now, Pein looked down at his former sensei's shadow. "I have to admit, you had me scared there sensei. Another burst like that and I was done in for. Zetsu, what do you want?"

A shape from the broken wall besides him slowly came forth until Zetsu appeared. "That was an incredible fight Taishou-sama. I never had seen anything like it before."

Pein smirked hearing this before remembering something that had come to him. "It quite possibly could be, but there is another fight today that might be able to top it. Head for the Uchiha's secret hideout. I would wish to see the two Uchiha brothers fight to the death."

Zetsu nodded in understanding before quickly merging with the wall and headed off to his new destination, not wanting to miss what could be an ever greater fight then the one he just witnessed. Pein smirked one last time as he looked down at the water before turning around with the rest of his bodies. Before taking one step, his eyes widened at the amount of chakra being released and rapidly turned around only to see a white blur explode from the ocean holding what seemed to be a gigantic blue orb in his hand. And it was coming straight for him. In a futile effort to block the attack, the other four threw themselves in the way but all were blown away by the orb as it exploded.

And standing looking almost zombie like was none other then the toad sage, Jiraiya of the Sannin. And with the amount of chakra he was pouring out, only Kyuubi wouldn't be fazed by it and even the fox would have been damn impressed.

Pein looked up at him in horror as his other bodies slowly got up and charged him. Jiraiya didn't even think of countering and just allowed them to hit him. He felt no pain from their blows. He felt nothing other then his determination to finish what he started. With a chakra loaded back hand, the life giving Pein's head was almost completely decapitated with only a few threads of skin holding it on. Another body stepped up and was going through hand seals as fast as it could, but nothing could be a jutsu without hand seals as he pushed an oversized Rasengan into his head and shredded it like a berry in a blender.

Seeing that there was no way to stop the rampaging Jiraiya, the original Pein turned to run only to see Jiraiya in front of him, channeling his reaming chakra to his fist. "I..." He struggled with his words as the effect of the final gate was finally taking its toll along with the wound in his heart. "Will... Not..." Taking one last breath, Jiraiya screamed out what he said. "I WILL NOT FAIL!"

He struck Pein in the chest and was piercing into him like a hot knife. Seeing a rocket fist flying towards Jiraiya's arm, Pein used a last ditch effort to minimize the damage on himself rolled into the punch just as the fist hit Jiraiya's arm causing it to fault and only pierce into his left lung and not his heart. It was completely silent before the two slammed to the ground in creating a massive dust cloud a hundred meters high as Konan stared on in horror, hoping that Pein had survived.

Just as quickly as his attack started it had ended as Pein pulled the lifeless body of Jiraiya's off him. He had survived, but it hadn't been because of his own skill. It had been sheer luck that he had caught Jiraiya off guard and had taken advantage of it. And even when he had finished him, the toad sage still had a trick up his sleeve that had left him in the critical condition he was. And without the power of his one body, he could not recover the wound as fast as he normally would. Even if he didn't want to admit it, his sensei had did a number on him as he would be out of action for a while as he needed rest.

Hearing Konan yelling out for him as she ran to him, he fell to the ground as he passed out and as did his other two bodies.

* * *

In the forest of Konoha, Naruto had found the clearing mentioned in the scroll. He had to make sure no one was following him which was kind of easy as Nibi was with him even though she really didn't want to be there. He knew this of course but Tsunade had order him to take her everywhere he went so he was forced to take her. Shaking that thought off, he pulled out the scroll once more and unsealed it with a drop of his blood. Unraveling it, he read over what both his father and Jiraiya had written once more before undoing the seal inside of the scroll.

After the smoke from undoing the seal dissipated, three tri pronged kunai laid on the scroll innocently along with another scroll. His eyes twitched in annoyance as he had a bad feeling there was going to be something within this scroll to unseal as well. Sighing lightly seeing as he had no clue what these kunai did, he unraveled the scroll and noticed it was much longer then what he thought it would be. Gulping lightly, he decided to read the first few paragraphs and hope that would be enough as he wasn't a very patient person.

Almost thirty minutes later, Naruto was wiping sweat off his forehead as he continued reading the long scroll. Nibi's eyebrows were twitching viciously as she was extremely bored already and had nothing to do. She was contemplating on frying the boy so there would be some entertainment for at least a little while before sighing as she knew it would be a bad idea since her fire was a little too hot to be used for that reason. So leaning against the tree, she took off her cloak revealing her black two piece kimono and looked up at the sky as she began to think of her dreams.

Just as she started to do so, Naruto stood up and stretched out making her attention shift back to him again, hoping they were leaving. To her dismay he had picked up the three kunai and began studying them. Refraining from jumping up and strangling the boy, she slumped further against the tree and waited for him to do something interesting.

Meanwhile Naruto was currently going over the basics of what he read. _'Hm. So these kunais act as markers for the jutsu to work. The seals on the blades are there to toughen it and make it harder to destroy even though it is made of obsidian. The kanji are the base that allows for the jutsu to work and I'm supposed to be able to feel them through the link of my blood. So I'm going to have to cut myself and bleed on each of them. No problem there thanks to Kyuubi. The problem comes when I feel it calling to me as I'll gain tunnel vision even without moving and half to send chakra to it to begin the jutsu seeing what tou-san wrote. But as tou-san also wrote that feeling the kunai will be difficult... yet it is the easiest part of the jutsu... Holy Kami. I have a feeling I'm going to be in the hospital a few times because of this...'_

Putting the last thought aside, Naruto followed the instructions of the scroll and cut his finger open before bleeding on each of the kanji which oddly enough absorbed it. Seeing this, he placed each into the ground and rolled up the scroll before walking exactly five meters from the kunai and sat down. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and spread out his senses to try and feel the kunais calling for him. After a few moments his frustration began to increase as he couldn't feel a thing and slowly as getting anxious. Knowing this was part of the problem, he began to calm himself down as he continued searching for the call of the kunais.

Nibi just looked on in confusion, having no clue what was going on. She honestly had never heard of a jutsu like this and it seemed a little too complex for its own good. But it also was quite funny to watch the young boy get flustered as easy as he was showing that a bit of Kyuubi's personality might have leaked through as the fox was anything but patient. Shaking her head of that thought, she sighed lightly as she leaned against the tree once more as she was bored once more. Not that it was difficult to bore her when you were physically doing nothing. Looking over at Naruto one last time, she closed her eyes knowing she would be here for a while.

_'Got it! ... No wait... Damn it! That was her chakra... Never mind... Damn you tou-san for making me have to mediate to learn this jutsu!'_

* * *

Mourning had arrived quickly and Sasuke for once was wishing it hadn't. For one, he didn't want to listen to Suigetsu's bitching and moaning about having to take on Kisame with only Karin. Two, he wasn't going to allow Karin to go which was going to increase Suigetsu's bitching. And finally he wasn't sure what was going to happen today. For all his work, he still wasn't sure if he was strong enough to match Itachi one on one. And there was one thing that bothered him. What if he failed? Then what would happen to Karin afterwards? Even though he had promised himself he wouldn't restart the clan until Itachi's death, he did so anyways.

So that left the big question, how would he keep Karin from coming along with them? He did not want to risk her or his child that was slowly beginning to develop in her womb. He could always tell her to stay here, but she was disobedient and would end up following him. Besides, he had to keep his promise to her and he had only one fail safe way to do that if he didn't make it past today. Pulling out a scroll, he quickly wrote what he needed her to do before he pulled out another scroll and sealed it within the same scroll. Rolling it back up, he put a life force seal on it to keep anyone out of it unless he opened it or he was no longer among the living.

As he finished with the scroll, he had noticed Suigetsu was up and looking at him oddly. Ignoring the water man for now, he placed the scroll in Karin's hand before going through a few hand seals and touching her forehead. Once he touched her forehead, Karin began snoring as she went into a deeper sleep before slowly shimmering out of existence, surprising the water man. Seeing that he was done, Sasuke stood up and moved over to the fire and put it out. Getting annoyed by Suigetsu stare, he turned to the water man and glared at him. Suigetsu gulped lightly as he shook his head, not wanting to question his commander's actions.

Sasuke nodded at him before pulling out a scroll from his wrist and throwing it at Suigetsu. "That is a scroll filled with water. Only use it if you have to."

Taking a look at the scroll, Suigetsu nodded as he pocketed it and stood up as he grabbed Kubikiri Houchi and strapped it to his back as he looked at the building in the distance. "So this is where the big show down is going to happen. Well, let's not keep them waiting."

Nodding in agreement, Sasuke lead the way leaving behind Karin in her genjutsu induced sleep. The walk wasn't too far and Sasuke was fairly surprised not to her the water man complaining, but he guessed he would rather fight Kisame in a straight up fight then having back up. He could understand that very well as it was the same way he felt about fighting Itachi. As they arrived at the entrance to the secret hideout, Kisame stood waiting at the door with a tooth grin. "About time you got her. I wanted to continue our fight from before Suigetsu only this time without some mad bomber destroying the battle field."

Suigetsu grinned back at the shark man as he pulled out Zabuza's sword. "The same goes here, but this time I will be the one delivering the final blow." Turning his gaze to Sasuke, Suigetsu motion him to go on. "Go on Sasuke-sama. I've got this bitch. Go take your revenge for you clan."

Kisame scowled at being called a bitch but moved out of Sasuke's way, not wanting to impede him on his path. Once the Uchiha had past, Kisame grinned dangerously at Suigetsu as he pulled Samehada in front of him. "You are going to eat those words. No one calls me a bitch."

Hearing the clang of metal outside, Sasuke continued walking through the dark hallway to the lighted room at the end, knowing that his brother was there as he could feel it. As he stepped out of the hallway, he entered the lighted room to see a plain room with almost nothing in it other then the Uchiha fan on the back wall and a throne. And sitting in the throne was Uchiha Itachi with his fingers crossed and Sharingan active, looking straight at Sasuke. The younger Uchiha narrowed his eyes seeing Itachi's state and knew something was wrong. He seemed... tired and worn out. Whether he was tired or not, the elder Uchiha spoke. "You've finally arrive otouto."

Sasuke glared at his brother with narrowed eyes. "You knew nothing would stop me from coming here. Not after what you did."

Even though Itachi didn't visibly show it, he was smirking internally at his brother. Then again, he was just like his brother in the regard that he was fucked over in the emotions department as he was apart of a war when he was only four. Mentally shaking that image off, Itachi stayed seated in his chair as he uncrossed his fingers. "I see. Your hate still drives you. That is excellent otouto, but it will not be enough as you never did obtain the Mangekyou."

The younger Uchiha gave no outward reaction to Itachi's statement, but underneath he was steaming. Even though he thought about it and nearly acted upon it, he had stopped himself. Looking over at his elder brother, Sasuke answered him. "My hate is enough alone. I could and would not sink to your level by killing my best friend. That is what separate us and will grant me victory today. Your Sharingan is tainted while the light still exist in mine. By the end of the day you will see that. Now if you are finished, I would like to start this unless you would be willing to tell me why you did it."

Itachi answered by placing his hands on the throne's arms and pushing himself up. Seeing this, Sasuke activated his own Sharingan as he took that as a no that he wasn't going to answer him now. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a few shuriken as Itachi completely stood up from his throne. Neither had noticed that Zetsu had arrived and was watching them intently, wondering why neither was moving an inch.

Sasuke threw the shuriken towards Itachi who easily countered them with his own. Just as before Sasuke had used the shuriken as a feint and charged the elder Uchiha. Itachi raised his eyebrow seeing this as it wasn't in Sasuke's style to be predictable and knew he was up to something. He blocked the punch thrown at him and turned himself to avoid the kick to the gut as he really began to wonder what Sasuke was doing as he had tried the same exact maneuver before only with his chokuto. Deciding not to counter like he did last time, Itachi pulled Sasuke closer and delivered a palm strike to his chest and sent the younger Uchiha skidding.

To his horror, Sasuke dissolved into dozens of snakes. Wheeling around knowing what he was planning, Itachi barely avoided the chokuto strike for his heart as he gripped his brother's wrist only to see Sasuke release his grip on his sword and deliver a spin kick to his waist and nearly his groin. Skidding back, Itachi refrained from growling as that was almost a low blow and was going to make sure Sasuke paid for that. Pulling out a few shuriken, he threw them to counter Sasuke's before ducking under Sasuke's guard and landing an uppercut to his chin sending the young Uchiha skidding back.

Sasuke cursed lightly at this knowing the longer this fight lasted his brother would only get stronger as he hadn't even pulled out his Mangekyou yet. Not that he was afraid of it, just it would be a hell of a lot easier just to avoid the damn thing although a small part of him wanted to see Itachi use it so he could test himself. Catching his thoughts, he threw another volley of shuriken towards Itachi and feinted to his right before going left. Easily counter his shuriken before seeing his feint and was about to counter when Sasuke suddenly shifted back to the right and caught him with a left hook, knocking the Uchiha prodigy back a bit before jumping over Sasuke's next strike and kicking him in the face in a Naruto like way.

Growling lightly as he stopped skidding, Sasuke glared at Itachi as he went through a familiar set of hand seals and held his palm to the ground. Lighting spiked from his hand as it started chirping while a manic grin crossed Sasuke face making the elder Uchiha raise his eyebrow at him. Sasuke took a few steps at Itachi and lunged at him. Itachi seeing no other possible moves for Sasuke to use stepped out of the way and gripped the wrist with lighting spiking in it before his eyes widened as he felt the chokuto pierce his heart. Looking over to Sasuke, he could see the smirk on his face as he drove the sword deeper into him.

Coughing up some blood, Itachi slumped to the ground as Sasuke glared at him before grabbing his collar and looking him Sharingan to Sharingan. He knew what he wanted, but he wasn't sure he wanted to tell him. The younger Uchiha's glare increased as he pushed the blade deeper into him. "Now I'll ask this, who is the other?!"

Much to the younger Uchiha's surprise, Itachi smiled lightly at him before placing his hand on his cheek. "You have grown strong otouto." Just as he finished his sentence, he burst into raven's catching Sasuke off guard.

Slowly standing up as he gritted his teeth, he looked over at the throne to see Itachi sitting just like he was as he arrived. Refraining from screaming in annoyance, he settled for glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Itachi continued looking at him as if expecting something when his eyes widened once more as he felt a blade going through his chest. Looking back, he noticed Sasuke holding his chokuto which had pierced his stone throne and chest. Looking back towards the other Sasuke, he refrained from growling as it began dissolving into snakes just as the first did. Turning back to Sasuke, he couldn't help but be slightly impressed as the younger Uchiha glared at him.

Sasuke's glare had gain more intensity then before along with a serious amount of killing intent. He knew that he would have to fight his brother's complete mastery of genjutsu, but it was pissing him off to no end and he had a feeling it was for from over. "Now for the last time you _traitorous FUCK!_ Who is the other Uchiha?!" To emphasize his point he had turned around and fired a bolt of lighting right beside the real Itachi's head as he sat on his throne.

Itachi didn't even flinch at the lighting as he looked over at his younger brother. If he really wanted to know, he was going to tell him and he was going to enjoy every second of doing so. "I see you figured it out. Not even I could kill an entire clan full of jounin level shinobi on my own." Seeing Sasuke's glare intensify, Itachi mentally smirked as he continued on. "It was Uchiha Madara that helped me. The creator of Akatsuki and the cause of Kyuubi's attack fifteen years ago."

He was having difficulty refraining his psychotic glee seeing Sasuke shock hearing the last part of his statement before he returned to normal. Seeing that he had shocked his younger brother enough yet, he continued. "As you read in the book the Mangekyou has the power to tame and control Kyuubi. He used this to his advantage and had the nine tail fox attack or village in his quest for revenge for what Konoha did to him. Now I would tell you of his story, but I really don't see it's necessary as you will not live beyond today. But I will tell you of some of our clan's history and what you don't know of the Mangekyou."

Mentioning the Mangekyou, Itachi mentally smirk grew as Sasuke's interested peeked slightly before a scowl return to his face, waiting for Itachi to continue as much as he hated it but did wanted to learn more. "Well it began with Madara and his brother in the years before the formation of Konoha. Our clan was leaderless and was on the verge of self destructing, so both trained as hard as they could and did something that was never done before. They both activated the Mangekyou by killing their best friends. In doing so both took control of the clan and began to wipe the others out as none had the power to match ours."

"During those days, Madara was going blind from the effects of the Mangekyou. He had tried everything to slow it down, but nothing worked till one day. That day he took his brother's eyes and gained eternal light. Learning of both how to gain the Mangekyou and how to stop the blindness, every Uchiha killed their own best friend before taking their own brother's eyes! That is why almost every Uchiha family has two siblings! No more, no less! Now do you see why I spared you Sasuke?!"

Sasuke's face began to drop as Itachi finally could no longer restrain his wicked smirk as he began to laugh psychotically. "You were my spare! I let you live so I could harvest your eyes when the time was right so I'd never lose my light! I killed the rest of the clan so you would search me out when your eyes were just right!" As quickly as he lost control over his emotions, Itachi regain his stoic appearance as he looked calmly at his brother. "I hope you understand now."

Nodding in understanding, Sasuke took off his brown cloak before he began unraveling the bandages on his forearms. Once he finished, he let them drop to the floor revealing two storage seals on his wrists. "Yes. I finally understand. You have lost your mind." Sasuke smirked at the last part while Itachi looked stoic but was refraining from nodding in agreement mentally. "But you know I've trained these two and a half years to take you on at full power. It would be a shame if I didn't get to see your Mangekyou as it would mean you never went all out against me."

Itachi raised his eyebrow at his younger brother at this. "You realize what you are asking." Sasuke nodded, his smirk never leaving his face. Itachi couldn't help but smirking faintly himself as he looked at him. "Then from this point out otouto, you will see the true terror of my power."

As he finished his sentence, his Sharingan morphed into a three bladed shuriken. The true battle had finally begun.

* * *

The forest was eerily quiet as Tobi waited for someone to show up. While with is mask on, he seemed to be a completely different person as he really didn't care what was going on around him for the most part. And he preferred it that way. Otherwise he would have massive migraine thinking about every little thing that was going wrong with Akatsuki. Then again, his alter ego had taken steps to make sure that the recovery measures would go as planned so there really was nothing to worry about. All he had to do was stall the Konoha's retrieval team for Sasuke and maybe catch the Kyuubi gaki if he was with them.

So whistling to himself without a care in the world, Tobi leaned against his tree and waited. And waited. And stopped waiting as he got bored. "Dammit! This is taking too long! I'll go find them so I can play with someone!" True to what he said, Tobi jumped off his tree and began running around in an attempt to find someone to 'play' with.

After a few minutes of searching, Tobi was grinning madly as he had ran into what he was supposed to stall, a team from Konoha. The only down side was that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki wasn't with them. He was disappointed at this as he wanted to prove himself to be a good boy by catching him. Before he could get down about that, he remembered that the others were there and he would be able to play. Jumping up in excitement, Tobi looked over all of them expectantly. "Are you all here to play?"

Everyone from Konoha just stared at him having no clue why and Akatsuki member would be acting like this. But that didn't matter for Inuzaku Hana. She was out for blood and if this Akatsuki member was offering it, she by all means was going to take it. Before she could act rashly, Uzuki Yugao gripped her shoulder and shook her head as she looked over at the mysterious Tobi, who by all means was acting like an idiot. Even so, she knew he was dangerous as he was apart of the Akatsuki and she had learned that by no means eccentric people were bad shinobi. "Stand aside and let us through. There is no way you can beat all of us."

Tobi looked thoughtful for a moment as he placed his hand on his masked chin and rubbed it as if contemplating his answer. In truth he was far from doing that as nothing was going through his head other then thoughts of him running around in circles. As if magically finding his answer, Tobi smiled even though none of them could see it as he bounced up and down while shaking his head. "Nope! Can't do that nice lady! Itachi-sempai wanted me to keep anyone from interfering and that is what I will do because I'm a good boy! So we will have to play... YAY!"

Both Hana and Yugao along with the other Konoha shinobi which included Shino, Genma and Neji were looking at the Akatsuki member with dead panned faces. There could be no way that someone that eccentric could be on Akatsuki otherwise he would have been killed already. Unknown to them Deidara had on multiple accounts had tried to do exactly that and failed. Neji was the first of all the Konoha shinobi to recover as he had seen worse with Gai and Lee, but not by much. Activating his Byukugan, he slid into the jyuken stance snapping everyone else out of it as they two prepared for battle as Tobi bounced in one spot like a little kid.

Getting annoyed at his childish antics, Hana was the first to snap and used Tsuga. The others eyes widened as they attempted to stop her but were too late as she was past them and on Tobi, but slid through him as if he wasn't there. Everyone's eyes doubled in shock and surprise as Tobi giggled like an infant. "That tickled! Do it again!"

Hana growled loudly but this time her three canines followed her lead and formed a quadruple Gatsuga as they spun towards him madly. Once again they passed through Tobi making him laugh like a child and nearly collided with each other. Once she stopped spinning, Hana whirled around in shock as she looked over at the giggling Akatsuki member before joining the rest of the Konoha shinobi, not sure what to do. Turning to Neji, she was hoping he had something but he shook his head in a stunned way. "I can't explain it. It's like he just disappears but at the same time he still here. I'm not sure if he is just moving so fast that I can't keep up or is using something I can't explain but I do know none of those attacks did anything to him."

Each of there eyes narrowed hearing this as they turned to the energetic Tobi, who was bouncing on his heels looking at them expectantly. This of course irked them further as it seemed he was just toying with them, which was extremely close to the truth except Tobi really didn't know he was doing that. Yugao looked over at the other four as she came up with a plan as she turned to Genma. "Genma, Hana. I want you both to try and attack him up close with me and pull back when I say so. Shino, while we are doing this I want you to surround him with your kikai. Neji, take note of what he is doing and see if he does anything different."

All nodded in understanding as this guy was grating on all of there nerves, none more so then Neji as both Gai and Lee were enough. Hana, Genma and Yugao quickly broke out of the group and rushed towards Tobi, the two latter pulling out katanas while Hana rushed ahead and used another Tsuga. She slid through Tobi once more who giggled even more at the feeling before two katana slashed through his chest, sending him crumpling to the ground. Everyone looked on in surprise that he had gone down that simply. Yugao narrowed her eyes knowing something was and was about to bring down her katana to his head when Tobi jumped up no worse for the wear.

"OW! That hurt you meanies!"

Once more everyone was in shock seeing that both blades had slashed through his heart and yet he was perfectly fine now. None have ever seen such quick regeneration and that was saying something as Yugao use to guard Naruto early on in the blonde's life. Tobi smiled through his mask at all of them as he began bouncing on his heels once more while humming a tune that none of them heard before. Yugao turning back to Shino and nodding at him to continue, she charged the bouncing Tobi and attempted to slash through him, but Tobi was ready this time as it went through him this time doing no damage. Genma seeing this join her but neither was able to even touch him as he kept fading out after each blow.

Seeing this, Hana quickly joined in and started slashing at him with her claws, but it didn't seem like any of them could hit him as Tobi was dancing through their attacks as if he was trying to get them to hit each other. Of course he wasn't thinking about that, he was just having fun playing around with the three. Yugao growled in annoyance at his constant phasing out and began to use the sword style Hayate taught her before he passed on, Mikazuki no Mai. Seeing this, both Hana and Genma gave her a little room knowing how fast and deadly the strikes could be. Creating three Kage Bunshins of herself, she began attacking Tobi with almost dance like movements which had excited Tobi as he danced with all three of her.

Each step she moved faster and faster and her strikes had become blurs to everyone there, but Tobi didn't seem to be affected by this as he was still phasing out when each hit should have got him. Yugao's eyes narrowed at this as she mentally nodded to all her clones to take it to the max. In an instant there was a flurry of strikes that Tobi couldn't phase away from as he begun to be literally taken apart from their attacks. As she finished, she wiped the blood off her katana before putting it back in its sheath. "Alright, there is no way he could have survived that. Let's go."

The others nodded as they looked at the bloody mess before Neji spoke in slight fear. "I wouldn't be too sure of that..."

"OW YOU BITCH! THAT FUCKING HURT! SCREW PLAYING AROUND WITH YOU!"

Yugao's eyes widened as she turned around to see Tobi glaring at her as he stood up, once more completely unharmed from her assault. But this wasn't what made her afraid. It was his eye. It was a fully developed Sharingan. And it was morphing. Before she could attempt to yell out to the others, he had utter one word.

_"Amaterasu!"_

* * *

A flurry of shuriken flew as both Sasuke and Itachi restarted their battle. It seemed to be a dead lock in kenjutsu as neither could get a shuriken past the other making what they were doing quite pointless. Sasuke was the first to realize this as he gripped his chokuto and rushed towards Itachi. As he reached him, Itachi parried his strike with a kunai up his sleeve. Turning on his heel, Sasuke aimed for his hip only to be parried once more before blocking Itachi's strike to his temple.

After having a few more strikes blocked and countering his brothers, Itachi flipped over Sasuke and back handed him before he could counter. The said Uchiha stumbled before going with the flow and rolling himself back onto his feet. Turning around at his brother, he noticed him use an all too familiar seal thanks to Naruto before a second Itachi appeared. Having fought Naruto multiple times with the said jutsu, he knew its weakness and could tell the original apart from the clones. Pushing a small amount of chakra to the seal on his wrist, Sasuke pulled out a windmill shuriken and unfolded it as he pushed his lighting affinity into the blade before throwing it at the real Itachi.

Seeing this, the elder Uchiha pulled out a few more shuriken and threw them to counter the larger one. He was slightly surprised seeing that the windmill shuriken slice through them with ease before realizing that Sasuke had charged it with his affinity. Before he could think any further the shuriken tore threw him only for him to turn to smoke, much to Sasuke's surprise having believed that to be the real one. This momentary surprised gave Itachi the element of surprise as he was on him before Sasuke could counter and landed a solid blow in his chest sending him into the wall.

A rather decent sized crater was made from the impact as Sasuke coughed up blood for the force of the attack. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke attempted to push himself out of the crater only to see that his brother was already on him. His eyes widened as Itachi's hand extended forward and his finger tips gripped the outside of his eye. "I'm sorry Sasuke." Sasuke looked shocked for a second before Itachi jerked his hand back, ripping out his left eye. The pain was almost like something Sasuke never felt before as he couldn't help but scream as he fell out of the crater, gripping where his left eye used to be as blood coated his hand and dripped to the floor.

As Sasuke was gripping where his eye had been in agony, Itachi pulled out a small jar and gently dropped Sasuke's eye within it before sealing the jar up and then away. Looking over to his now one eyed brother, he mentally smirked as Sasuke stopped cringing in pain and was glaring at him with even more hatred then before. Seeing this, Itachi rushed back over to him intending to take his other eye when Sasuke suddenly countered with his chokuto and nearly pierced his throat if he hadn't jumped back at the last second possible. Bringing his hand to his throat, his eyes narrowed as he noticed a little blood and glared at Sasuke for cutting him.

Moving faster then he did before, Itachi was inside Sasuke's guard and had pinned him to the wall once more as his other hand gripped Sasuke's right eye. Just as he was about to pull it out everything around him began to phase out of existence as the white of Sasuke's eye turned black as his cursed seal flared into view as a large hand like wing sprouted from his back. The world began fading out faster and glimpses of a black, white and red world were seen before he found himself standing in front of his throne once more while Sasuke was panting as he fell to one knee in exhaustion. Blinking in surprise seeing what happened, he looked down at Sasuke. "You countered Tsukiyomi? How?"

Panting from the ground, Sasuke smirked as he slowly but steadily picked himself up. But the most important thing was that he still had both his eyes and he was going to keep it that way. "Itachi, you underestimated me. The Sharingan is nothing but a tool. A tool that can be overcome if you know how to. I have to thank you though as if you hadn't used the jutsu on me when I had my Sharingan active, I would have never been able to break it."

Narrowing his eyes at this development, Itachi stored it away for future use as it could be useful to have if Madara decided to 'punish' him again. He shook his head lightly as his head began to hurt and blurred his vision for a moment, but he managed to get rid of the latter. Sasuke's smirk never left him as he saw this as he regained his breath. "But it seems that Tsukiyomi doesn't only effect the target now does it aniki? It effects you as well and I'm betting you've never had to fight seriously after using it."

Itachi said nothing as he looked over at his brother with his normal cold stare. "Believe what you want. This fight is far from over. I still have Amaterasu."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that but knew it was true. He also knew his chakra was getting low and didn't want to waste what left of his body's chakra as it would release Orochimaru. So in order to counter this, he activated his curse seal as the marks began to slide across his body as his right level two form wings sprouted from his back. While it was difficult for most carriers of the curse seal to do this, Sasuke had mastered the ability to merge his level one and two stages so it would be less strenuous on him in the end as the level two form left him drained and vulnerable.

Not wanting to give his brother the chance to use Amaterasu as he knew there would be no way to survive it if he did, he rushed him with his enhanced speed. Itachi barely managed to counter as he was focused on trying to activating Amaterasu so he was put on the defensive. Blocking and evading his young brothers flurry of punches, kicks and the occasionally wing swipe at him, Itachi growled in annoyance as he sweep kicked Sasuke before back flipping a few times to put some distance between the two even though the room was small. He was about to send chakra to his eye when he noticed Sasuke going through a few hand seals and instantly recognized what they were as he went through them as well.

_"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" _Two streams of large fire blew towards each other as they came from the two Uchiha's mouths. Both poured more and more chakra into it trying to dominate the other, but it was slowly becoming apparent who was the victor in the battle. Sasuke was overpowering Itachi.

Itachi mentally growled at this knowing that if it wasn't for Madara he would have been too much for his brother, but now he was being forced into a corner and knew he would have to release everything he had to win this fight. The veins around and insides his began to bulge as blood leaked from his right eye as he unleashed his most devastating jutsu. _"AMATERASU!"_

Black flames erupted from his right eye and covered the flames both were putting out, extinguishing them with the outmost ease. Itachi panted lightly as he wiped a bit of the blood from his eye while looking over to the stunned Sasuke, not believing that Amaterasu could put out fire as it was fire. Itachi noticed this shock and went for the kill as his eye bulged once more and black flames erupted from his eyes.

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror as the flames shot towards him and rolled out of the way in order to not be hit by the flames. But once more as he was surprised as the flames chased after him. Not wanting to give them the chance to hit him, he jumped out of the way and attempted to rush Itachi only to see black flames heading for him. Seeing no way out of this, Sasuke brought his arms in front of him as his wing moved to shield him as the black flames enveloped him. As the wing was more resistant to the heat, it was able to stand it for a moment before it gave out and the flames engulfed his body.

Just after the flames engulfed Sasuke, Itachi stopped them from continuing as he needed Sasuke's eyes. Slowly and tiredly, he walked over towards the lifeless body of Sasuke's. Standing besides him as the rest of the fire dissipated, he was about to roll him over before his eyes widened as Sasuke just seemed to disappear from existence. Instantly realizing what jutsu this was, he jumped back as Sasuke in his level two form without the wings jumped out of a large crack in the ceiling with his hands in a Tora seal before he breathed out a fire dragon he had never seen before but was more powerful then Karyu Endan.

Landing on the ground, he rolled out of the way as the dragon rammed into the ground. He began panting as the dragon had drilled into the ground a good twenty feet before it seemed to stop. Itachi knew if that had hit him there would have been no way for him to survive. Just as he thought that, the ground began to rumble from beneath his feet. His eyes widened in realization what it was as he put the rest of the chakra he had into his jump as he barely evade the dragon erupting from below him and slamming into the roof and obliterating it as it head for the clouds and dispersed on contact.\

As it did, the building began to shake violently before it started to crumble. Both brothers jumped up to the roof to avoid from being crushed by the falling debris. As the building collapse came to an end, the ground Sasuke stood on crumbled and fell to the ground before he could move. Shakily standing up from the crash, Sasuke looked up at Itachi with a smirk as he somehow managed to be able to hold his level two form. "It is finally time. I have one last move to end this. One even deadlier then Amaterasu."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at this as he barely had enough chakra to keep his Sharingan activated before a small smirk graced his lips as he looked down at his brother. "Quit kidding yourself. You're out of chakra just as I am. You have nothing."

Sasuke smirked at this as he reached into his pouch before pulling out what seemed to be a pill. Itachi's face dropped seeing the pill as he knew what it was instantly. It was a soldier pill. The younger brother's smirk grew as he popped it in and chew. A brief moment afterwards a small amount of chakra was flowing into his cords, just enough for him to use this last jutsu. Raising his hand into the air, Sasuke gritted his teeth as all the heat gathered to the clouds. "This is the end for you aniki! I will avenge our clan! _KIRIN!"_

A blast of lighting dropped from the sky with deadly accuracy due to Sasuke's lighting affinity and remaining chakra he used to control it. Itachi couldn't dodge it as it struck him faster then he could move burning his Akatsuki cloak off before it hit the ground causing a dust cloud to be made. As the cloud settled, Itachi's body laid where he was struck by the bolt of lighting. Staring heavily as he panted deeply, Sasuke couldn't see Itachi moving. He stared for a whole minute before a small smile graced his lips as he spoke to himself in a questioning voice. "I did it? I actually did it." Suddenly he threw up both his hands in the air as he jumped in excitement. "YES! I DID IT!"

"Is this what you saw that day?"

Sasuke's blood drained from his face as he looked back down at Itachi as the said Uchiha began to slowly pick himself off from the ground. There was no way. He shouldn't be standing. He had taken a direct shot from his most deadly jutsu and survived. Sasuke took a step back in horror as he looked over toward Itachi as the elder Uchiha smirked as he stood up. "H-h-HOW?! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"

Itachi panted deeply as he looked at his brother. He never thought he would have had to use the jutsu he did. But he had and it worked even if had to sacrifice some of his life chakra to use it. Another psychotic grin as his dull onyx eyes looked over towards Sasuke, not really being able to see him as he whispered one word. _"Susanoo."_

As he finished, a white ethereal light surrounded him and slowly began growing to the size of a boss summon before taking the shape of a samurai with a jug on his left side and wielding a sword in his other. He wore and odd mask that Sasuke couldn't describe nor did he care. Whatever it was had saved his brother. And now he had to face it, without chakra.

Just as he thought that, he gripped his cursed seal in agony as he began to revert back to normal. Well as normal as you can get when a long scaly object was protruding from your back. Gritting his teeth, he didn't know what was going on before his eyes widened in realization that he had no more chakra meaning he had nothing to hold back his worse fear. Orochimaru. The long scaly object sprouting from Sasuke back elongated to the size of the ethereal warrior before its head form revealing that of a snake. Just like the first, seven more grew from Sasuke back causing the young Uchiha devastating pain. Itachi stood calmly within Susanoo as he looked at the longest head, knowing something was about to happen. The same something that had attempted to possess him nine years ago.

As Itachi predicted, the largest snake's mouth opened an all too familiar crazed laugh filled the air as an extremely pale man appeared into view from within the snakes mouth. Itachi grimaced lightly as shuddering was not something he did even if what Orochimaru just did was disturbing as hell. Before he could complain more about it, the crazed sannin screamed to the world. "I'm back! Ku ku ku!" Looking down at Itachi, he smirked devilishly at him as all eight heads looked down at the Uchiha. "I have you to thank for that Itachi. So take this!"

Once of the eight heads struck out towards the stoic Uchiha. It never reached him as Susanoo sliced its head off with ease. Orochimaru looked slightly surprised by this as his Hydra's scales had never been pierced by anything before. Itachi on the other hand didn't even look fazed as he looked Orochimaru in the eyes. "Do you not understand the meaning of death? You are meant to stay dead."

Before the snake sannin could even utter a single word to counter his statement, Susanoo's blade pierced his chest. For a moment, it looked as if Orochimaru was unfazed by the strike before his eyes doubled in fright and fear as he looked at the Uchiha prodigy. "You've had the Totsuka no Tsurugi this entire time!" Seeing Itachi's dead eyes, Orochimaru took it as a yes but it was too late for him as he slowly began melting into the blade. "Damn you! I will have my revenge! Just you wait Uchiha Itachi..." He had barely managed to finish his sentence when he was completely absorbed into the ethereal blade.

As Orochimaru was sealed away, the eight heads slowly began to dissolve to dust as Sasuke came back into view, panting but still alive. Slowly standing himself up, Sasuke looked over at his brother who had begun to advance on him. His eyes widened in fear as his last hope had been defeated with ease. In a hopeless attempt, he began bombarding the ethereal warrior with every kunai and shuriken he had, but nothing could pierce the light. He continued trying until he ran out just as Susanoo faded away, but Itachi continued advancing upon him as blood leaked out of his mouth. Sasuke backed up in horror as Itachi was on him, but only found a still standing wall keeping him from running.

For only the third time in his life, Sasuke felt fear. Itachi stood right in front of him and outstretched his hand, his finger tips gripping his eye. Sasuke shivered as he knew what was about to happen as he heard his brother's voice once more. "Forgive me for this Sasuke, but my light will not be extinguished."

Sasuke screamed in pain as Itachi jerked his hand back, ripping his left eye, this time for real. Itachi pulled out his jar and dropped Sasuke's eye into it before sealing it back up. Reaching back to Sasuke's face, he gripped his other eye before viciously pulling it out it socket intensifying Sasuke's pain as he placed his other eye in his other jar as he sealed it away. He watched Sasuke slump to the ground as he gripped his forehead in pain as blood leaked out of his eye sockets. Looking down at his brother in pity, he pulled out his kunai before placing it at his throat. "Goodbye Sasuke." With a quick slice, blood squirted from the younger Uchiha's throat as his throat was slit.

In his last moments as he slumped to the ground, Sasuke began thinking his life over wondering if everything up to this point was useless. A small smile graced his dying lips as he remembered the few good times. Even though they were short, they were the best things that ever happened to him. And he hated to admit it, but all but one of them didn't include Naruto. Ironic that the one person that he was trying to help was the one that gave him the most in his life. _'Naruto... Take... him down...'_

With that last thought, Sasuke's eyelids slid shut over the empty sockets as the life left his body. Itachi looked down at his brother's form as the darkness slowly began to take him as he began coughing blood as he fell to his knees. Coughing up more, his vision faded as he hit the ground unmoving.

From the shadows, Zetsu raised up from the spot he had watched the battle before sinking back into the ground to get some help.

* * *

In the forest of Konoha, Nibi suddenly awoke having forgotten she fallen asleep watching Naruto's boring training. Looking over towards where the said boy was, she refrained from sweat dropping as he was passed out while drooling. Twitching at that as she had to pick him up and take him to his damn place, she walked over towards him when he vision suddenly shifted meaning something had activated her eye's powers. Not understanding what was going on, Nibi looked around before her eyes landed on Naruto and was actually surprised at the handful of life strings that were attached for him.

Knowing that the strings represented how close someone was to either committing suicide or break and go insane. He only had five and two of them were disintegrating. Her eyes widened at this as if her dream was true, he would be needed to save this world. As the two lines had disappeared completely, her eyes reverted back making her narrow her eyes as she didn't like that she was losing control of her own abilities. Shaking her head, she sighed deeply as she picked up the blonde haired jinchuuriki after putting on her cloak. Taking one look at him she shook her head again as she headed towards his apartment.

"Boy, something tells me you're life just got royally fucked over."

* * *

Tobi smirked as he watched the black flames where the annoying woman that cut him up once stood. He was pleased that she was dead as she wasn't very fun to play with. Turning to the others, he noticed the look of fear and shock on their faces. Sighing to himself as they were no longer going to play with him, he decided to put them down. Just as he was about to move his attention was averted to Zetsu as he emerged from the ground. "Madara-sama! Uchiha Sasuke is dead and Itachi is in critical condition. If we don't get him healed immediately, he will pass on as well."

The playful masked Akatsuki member narrowed his eyes as he heard this. This wasn't as he planned it. Sasuke was suppose to win, not Itachi. Was Itachi's will to live that strong that he overcame the effects of his Tsukiyomi to kill his own brother? Growling lightly as his plan was shot to hell; he turned to Zetsu with killing intent leaking out of him in waves. The plant man backed up in slight aw and fear of the Akatsuki creator, hoping that he wasn't about to take his rage out on him as there would be no escaping it. Luckily for him, Madara wasn't in the mood for that now. "Zetsu, return to Amegakure and check up on Pein as I know he has taken serious damage. I will take care of Itachi."

Zetsu nodded and quickly sunk into the ground leaving Madara alone with the remaining members of Konoha. Turning towards them, he gritted his teeth as he didn't have the time to deal with them. "I'll see you kids later." With that said, he phased out of existence.

In a camp not too far away, Karin suddenly jolted up. Taking a look around her, she noticed that no one else was left in the camp. Not sure what was going on she was about to get up when she remembered that her clothes were over by her sleeping back. Blushing lightly, she was about to wrap Sasuke's sleeping bag around her and crawl over to get them when she felt something fall to her lap. Looking down to what it was, she noticed it was a scroll with her name written on it... with a life force seal opened on it.

Her eyes widened instantly as she knew that only Orochimaru knew that seal and seeing that Sasuke absorbed him... Her face dropped as tears began to well in her eyes knowing what it met. Gaining her courage, she shakily pulled the scroll closer to it and unraveled it to see Sasuke's hand writing within it.

_Karin, if you are reading this it means I have failed and Itachi has finished me. I am sorry for not taking you with us, but I had made sure last night that my legacy would live on through you. As selfish as it is, I wanted as good mother to raise him and I chose you. I'm not asking you to do this for nothing, so I will tell you were your brother lives. He lives in Konoha and goes by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, who happens to be my best friend and the one I was talking of last night. So please, go to Konoha as I know he will take care of you. But please give him the scroll I sealed within this one. It is all I could come up with to help him._

_Goodbye Karin and please raise our child with love and do NOT allow him to come after Itachi._

_Uchiha Sasuke._

Karin's eyes fluctuated as she read the letter. He had insured that she was pregnant, which she really didn't mind as she kind of been having the urge to settle down as of lately. He had also known who her brother was and happened to be friends with him. A small, sad smile graced her lips as she closed the scroll before wrapping herself in the sleeping bag and crawling over to her clothes.

Her goal now was to head to Konoha and find her brother, one Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

A/N2: Well there is the chapter. I had trouble remembering what each body of Pein's can do and which one did which as I don't really have access to the internet unless I go to the library early in the mourning. Also, don't blame me fore the bad names I gave Pein like Large or Rocket. I seriously was just trying to come up with plausible names for them... Anyways, read and review and please don't complain about what each body of Pein's does what. I only know that Nagato's body Powerful Summoner, Yahiko's body Rain creation/detection, other long hair body Rocket fist (not a hundred percent sure there) and large Kisame like one Attack Absorption (once again, not sure). I will correct them if I'm wrong, so your help is appreciated.


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